Avondale ranks highly in university guide
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
An independent survey of graduates has again provided tangible evidence of the quality of the Avondale experience.
Avondale College has received five five-star ratings, all in the key “The educational experience” area—for student–staff ratio, staff qualifications, teaching quality, generic skills and overall satisfaction. Credit: Colin Chuang.
The college’s five five-star ratings in The Good Universities Guide 2011 are all in the key “The educational experience” area—for student–staff ratio, staff qualifications, teaching quality, generic skills and overall satisfaction.
Avondale has consistently received five-star ratings in this area because, according to president Dr Ray Roennfeldt, “providing quality education is our core business.”
“We’re stoked with this result,” says Lorin Bradford, the director of advancement. “We almost always receive these ratings. They show we’re offering a product of significant value.”
Avondale also receives:
- Four stars for access by equity groups (down from five this past year) and indigenous participation (same)
- Three for the proportion of entrants who are school leavers (same)
- Two for cultural diversity (up from one), entry flexibility (same) and student demand (down from three), and
- One for gender balance (same), getting a full-time job (down from three) and positive graduate outcomes (down from two)
Ray and director of advancement Lorin Bradford acknowledge the ratings are not as high as this past year and note Avondale needs to improve in the “Access” area. However, Lorin also notes the potential negative influence of other external factors, such as the state of the economy, on the perceptions of graduates.
Graduates complete a Course Experience Questionnaire and Graduate Destination Survey in each of five different discipline fields. A federal government agency, Graduate Careers Australia, administers this questionnaire and survey and provides the data to the guide. All institutions must receive more than a 50 per cent response rate before the guide will include the data. This may explain why Avondale did not receive any stars for graduate starting salary this year, despite receiving five this past year.
Released on Monday this week (August 9), the guide is the only publication that contains independent five-star ratings and comparisons of all Australian courses and the universities and higher education providers that offer them.