World Rankings
Australia is home to some of the best universities in the world many of which are highly ranked in the World rankings. Rankings are one way of understanding the quality of Australian universities. There are several highly respected rankings that students and counsellors around the world use as a reference in gauging the overall quality of a university. Times Higher Education (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2022) QS (https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2022) and ARWU (https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2021) rank universities around the world for their overall quality.
QILT
You can also refer to QILT (www.qilt.edu.au) to know more about the student experience at an Australian university. QILT stands for ‘Quality Indicators of Learning and Teaching’ and is a system of surveys that are supported by the Australian government. The surveys focus on the whole student journey, from starting at a university to employment after completing a university course. QILT provides information from students who are taking part in university education and also students who have completed the journey. In addition, employers are also surveyed in QILT about graduate ‘readiness’ for employment and the range of skills and knowledge imparted by an Australian university.
Within QILT is the Student Experience Survey (SES. These surveys include information about Quality of entire educational experience, Teaching quality, Learner engagement, Learning resources, Student support and Skills development. In each of these indicators , you will be able to see the percentage of students who rated the institution you are planning to study in positively. In the 2021 nation report of the Student Experience Survey (downloadable from QILT’s home page, you can see how each university in Australia performed in the above indicators.
Another very useful facility on the QILT website is the ‘compare universities’ feature (https://www.qilt.edu.au/comparED) . You can choose up to 6 universities and compare them across the parameters of Quality of entire educational experience, Teaching quality, Learner engagement, Learning resources, Student support and Skills development. In addition, you can also get details of how the compare in your subject area by clicking on the ‘details’ button. QILT is a really useful facility because it has information from current students. Past students and employers.
www.universityreviews.com.au is another great website in which you can compare several institutions. It provides a list of ATAR cut offs in each Australian university. ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) is a percentile score which ranges between 0.0 and 99.95. If you have an ATAR of 70, this means that you are in the top 30% of students in your age group. This website also has a ranking for the best Australian universities for international students.
Overall, Australia has one of the strongest higher education systems in the world. QS ranks the Australian higher education system as one of the top five education systems in the world but it is still very important to thoroughly research the university you plan to enter as a student. The tools above will give you a comprehensive idea of what you are getting into. All the best in your search for the perfect Australian university fit for yourself.