Good Universities Guide rates CDU experience among lowest in country

The Territory’s only university has defended its status as a supposed world-class institution after it ranked poorly against its competitors.

Charles Darwin University has defended its place as a world-class university after it ranked as one of the country’s bottom five tertiary institutions.

The Good Universities Guide measures and compares 14 student experience and graduate outcome indicators across every university in Australia ahead of end-of-year university applications.

The 2023/2024 guide found CDU’s overall experience for undergraduate study sat at just 70.6 per cent, ranking it at 38 of 42 among its competitors.

It ranked 37th for postgraduate experience with a score of 71.8 per cent.

The national averages are 74.4 per cent and 74.8 per cent respectively.

The country’s university guide found CDU’s learner engagement and teaching quality rankings were among the lowest in the country at 41st and 42nd respectively.

But a spokesman for the Good Universities Guide said CDU graduates were consistently among the best employed and best paid in the nation.

CDU Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman said it was important to note there was a significant publishing lag in the Good Universities Guide data, which was taken towards the end of Covid-19 when many students were studying online.

He said the university ranked in the top five for first-generation education and international student progression and noted the rankings were just one system of measuring undergraduate students’ overall experience.

“Our commitment to excellence and our students’ educational experience remains steadfast,” Professor Bowman said.

“CDU is dedicated to improvement across all facets of education. We routinely gather feedback through initiatives such as the Student Your Voice network and maintain connections with delegated student representatives.

“CDU’s Net Promoter Score among students has increased from a positive 18.6 in 2022 to a positive 19.3 in 2023, indicating our students are feeling very positive about the experience they are having at CDU.”

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