Choosing an Australian University: Seven Official Metrics That Matter

Choosing an Australian university is often presented as a matter of rankings and reputation, but the most useful information for a prospective student is usually found in official survey data. The Australian Government publishes two main sources: QILT, the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching, and its public comparison tool ComparED. These cover employment outcomes, salaries, student satisfaction, and study patterns across every Australian university and course level.

The seven metrics below are drawn from the QILT 2025 release. They are the ones you can actually use to compare institutions, provided you understand what each number represents and what it does not tell you.

Employment Outcomes: What the Numbers Mean

The Graduate Outcomes Survey, or GOS, asks graduates about their employment and study status roughly four to six months after completing their course. The QILT 2025 release includes results for graduates from 2023, 2024, and 2025. When you look at these figures, you need to know which survey round you are reading.

For undergraduates across all provider types, the 2025 GOS reported a full-time employment rate of 50.8 percent, an overall employment rate of 70.7 percent, a labour force participation rate of 74.9 percent, and a median annual full-time salary of 70,000 Australian dollars. In the same release, the 2024 cohort showed a full-time employment rate of 52.3 percent, overall employment of 66.5 percent, labour force participation of 81.9 percent, and a median salary of 68,000 dollars. The 2023 cohort had a full-time employment rate of 59.7 percent, overall employment of 72.6 percent, labour force participation of 83.7 percent, and a median salary of 65,000 dollars.

These figures are national averages across all undergraduate students from all provider types. They are not results for any single university, and they are not a prediction of what will happen to you. They are point estimates from a sample survey, which means they carry a margin of error and reflect the specific cohort that responded.

Postgraduate Coursework and Research Outcomes

GOS data also covers postgraduate students, and the patterns differ noticeably by level of study. For postgraduate coursework students, the 2025 release reported a full-time employment rate of 52.2 percent, overall employment of 73.7 percent, labour force participation of 87.1 percent, and a median full-time salary of 69,400 dollars. The 2024 cohort showed a full-time employment rate of 56.1 percent, overall employment of 70.4 percent, labour force participation of 91.1 percent, and a median salary of 70,000 dollars. For 2023, the figures were 60.7 percent full-time employment, 73.1 percent overall employment, 91.4 percent labour force participation, and a median salary of 65,000 dollars.

Postgraduate research students consistently show higher employment and salary outcomes. In the 2025 release, their full-time employment rate was 71.8 percent, overall employment was 84.0 percent, labour force participation was 91.8 percent, and median full-time salary was 100,000 dollars. The 2024 cohort recorded 77.5 percent full-time employment, 86.7 percent overall employment, 96.1 percent labour force participation, and a median salary of 95,600 dollars. For 2023, the figures were 76.7 percent, 86.6 percent, 95.9 percent, and 92,000 dollars respectively.

When comparing these numbers, always check the course level. Undergraduate, postgraduate coursework, and postgraduate research are three different populations with different labour market positions. Mixing them up produces misleading comparisons.

How to Read the Three-Year Longitudinal Data

QILT also publishes the Graduate Outcomes Survey Longitudinal, or GOS-L, which tracks graduates over time rather than at a single point. This is the table labelled with the three-year period. It answers a different question: what happens to graduates as they move further into their careers?

For undergraduates from all provider types, the GOS-L data in the QILT 2025 release shows a clear upward trend. The 2023 cohort had a full-time employment rate of 79.0 percent, overall employment of 88.9 percent, labour force participation of 92.5 percent, and a median salary of 71,000 dollars. The 2024 cohort reached 74.0 percent full-time employment, 86.9 percent overall employment, 92.6 percent labour force participation, and a median salary of 75,000 dollars. The 2025 cohort reported 75.4 percent full-time employment, 89.2 percent overall employment, 88.0 percent labour force participation, and a median salary of 77,000 dollars.

The GOS-L data also breaks down by survey round within each year. For the 2025 cohort, the November round reported 74.0 percent full-time employment and a median salary of 78,000 dollars, while the February round showed 77.0 percent full-time employment and 78,300 dollars, and the May round reported 75.6 percent and 76,300 dollars. These variations reflect different groups of respondents and different labour market conditions at each survey point.

The key insight from the longitudinal data is that early employment outcomes are not the whole story. Graduates who are still studying or not yet in full-time work shortly after graduation often move into employment later. If you are comparing universities, the longitudinal figures give you a more complete picture of long-term outcomes than the single-point GOS results.

Student Experience Metrics from the SES

The Student Experience Survey, or SES, measures how current students rate their education. The QILT 2025 release reports results for the 2025 academic year across all course levels and provider types. The figures are expressed as the percentage of students giving a positive rating.

For undergraduates overall, the focus areas were: Skills Development at 81.4 percent, Peer Engagement at 61.4 percent, Teaching Quality and Engagement at 80.5 percent, Student Support and Services at 71.3 percent, and Learning Resources at 83.3 percent. The overall educational experience item was rated positively by 76.5 percent of students.

The SES also separates commencing students from later-year students. Commencing undergraduates rated Skills Development at 80.1 percent, Peer Engagement at 61.3 percent, Teaching Quality and Engagement at 82.7 percent, Student Support and Services at 73.9 percent, Learning Resources at 86.2 percent, and overall educational experience at 79.5 percent. Later-year undergraduates gave lower ratings in most areas: Skills Development at 83.1 percent, Peer Engagement at 61.5 percent, Teaching Quality and Engagement at 77.6 percent, Student Support and Services at 67.7 percent, Learning Resources at 79.1 percent, and overall educational experience at 76.5 percent.

The gap between commencing and later-year students is worth paying attention to. It suggests that the experience of a course can change over time, and that early enthusiasm may not persist. When you look at a university’s SES results, check whether the figures are for commencing students, later-year students, or all students combined.

What These Metrics Do Not Tell You

Every metric has limits. The GOS and SES are sample surveys, not censuses. The numbers are estimates based on the graduates and students who responded, and they are subject to sampling error. A difference of a few percentage points between two universities may not be statistically significant.

These metrics also do not measure the quality of teaching in any direct sense. The SES asks students to rate their experience, which is a subjective measure influenced by expectations, personal circumstances, and the specific course they took. A high satisfaction score does not guarantee that a course is right for you.

Employment outcomes are similarly limited. They reflect the labour market conditions at the time of the survey, the field of study, and the location of the graduate. A university with strong engineering outcomes may have weaker arts outcomes, and the national averages hide this variation. You should always look at the data for your specific field of study and course level.

How to Use ComparED for Your Own Comparison

ComparED is the public tool that lets you filter QILT data by institution, course level, and field of study. It is the most direct way to turn the national figures into something relevant to your own situation.

Start by selecting your intended course level, whether undergraduate, postgraduate coursework, or postgraduate research. Then choose the field of study that matches your intended course. The tool will show you the employment outcomes, salaries, and student experience ratings for the universities that offer that course.

When you compare institutions, look at the same metric across all of them rather than cherry-picking different indicators. If you are interested in employment, compare full-time employment rates and median salaries together. If you are interested in the student experience, compare the overall educational experience item and the focus areas that matter most to you.

Remember that ComparED shows institutional averages, not course-specific results unless you filter by field. A university’s overall employment rate may be driven by its largest faculties, which may not be the one you are applying to.

Verifying the Data Yourself

All the figures in this article come from the QILT 2025 release, which is published by the Australian Government. The primary sources are the Graduate Outcomes Survey, the Graduate Outcomes Survey Longitudinal, and the Student Experience Survey. The data processing and procedures page on the QILT website explains how the surveys are conducted, how responses are weighted, and how the results are calculated.

You can verify any figure by going to the QILT website and locating the relevant survey page. The ComparED tool provides the same data in a more accessible format, with filters for institution, course level, and field of study. The help page on ComparED explains how to interpret the data and what the different measures mean.

The data in this article was checked against the QILT 2025 release on 6 September 2026. If you are reading this later, check whether a newer release has been published, as the figures may have been updated.

Common Questions About These Metrics

Which metric matters most for choosing a university?

There is no single metric that matters most. The right metric depends on your priorities. If your main concern is getting a job after graduation, focus on full-time employment rates and median salaries. If you want to know what current students think, look at the SES results. The most useful approach is to compare several metrics together rather than relying on one number.

Are these figures specific to my course?

The national averages are not. You need to use ComparED and filter by your field of study to get course-level data. Even then, the figures are aggregated across all universities offering that course, so they reflect the average experience rather than any individual student’s outcome.

Why do the employment rates vary so much between years?

Employment outcomes are sensitive to labour market conditions, the timing of the survey, and the composition of the responding cohort. A change in the unemployment rate or a shift in which graduates respond can produce noticeable differences. This is why you should look at trends over several years rather than a single year’s figure.

Can I use these metrics to rank universities?

You can use them to compare universities on specific indicators, but they do not produce a single overall ranking. Each metric measures a different aspect of the student experience or graduate outcome, and there is no official weighting that combines them into one score. A university that performs well on employment may perform less well on student satisfaction.

参考资料

• Australian Government Department of Education《Education agents》(2026)
• Australian Government Department of Education《Registration on CRICOS》(2026)
• Study Australia《How to choose the right education agent for you》(2026)
• Study Australia《How to apply to study》(2026)
• Study Australia《Visa application process》(2026)
• QILT《Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching》(2026)
• QILT《Student Experience Survey (SES)》(2026)
• QILT《Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS)》(2026)
• QILT《Graduate Outcomes Survey - Longitudinal (GOS-L)》(2026)
• QILT《Employer Satisfaction Survey (ESS)》(2026)
• QILT《Data processing and procedures》(2026)
• ComparED《Compare institutions》(2026)
• ComparED《Help understanding the data》(2026)