University of Queensland named as Australia's University of the Year
The University of Queensland's national dominance of two key outcomes of higher education has been independently recognised with a coveted national award.
The University of Queensland today was named the 1998 Australian University of the Year by the Good Universities Guides for outstanding outcomes for graduates.
Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs Dr David Kemp announced the award which was received by University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay at Parliament House in Canberra. The award was presented on behalf of Dr Kemp by his Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Tony Abbott.
This is the second University of the Year award collected by Professor Hay on behalf of his institution. He was Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University when it was named 1995 University of the Year by the Good Universities Guides for "technology in undergraduate education."
The award stamps UQ's national dominance on two key outcomes of higher education - getting a job and gaining access to further study.
The coup sweeps aside institutional rhetoric and rivalries and sends a signal to the increasingly competitive national and international markets.
Professor Hay said: "Not only have UQ's new graduates seeking employment achieved Australia's highest employment rate for three of the past four years, but more than one third choose to go on to further study - 35.8 percent - significantly higher than the national average of 25.1 percent."
In practical terms, this not only demonstrated the success of the University as an undergraduate institution, but also highlighted its strengths as one of Australia's principal postgraduate training centres.
Professor Hay said: "This is a coveted national award of which the whole University can be proud as it independently recognises continued outstanding performance of our students and staff as evidenced in the labour market and in entry to postgraduate studies."
Professor Hay said that the outstanding success of UQ graduates, as recognised by the Good Universities Guides, was a powerful sign that the choice of a university can give students a competitive edge.
"Australian universities are not all the same, and UQ offers an experience that few of Australia's 37 universities can match," he said.
Put briefly, the University's distinctiveness derives from its comprehensive range of courses, the high level of commitment to research that informs its teaching, major investment in first-class facilities, and commitment to world-best practice in all that it does.
This combination of first-class students, staff and facilities delivered outstanding outcomes for graduates - both for those keen to enter the job market immediately and those wanting to pursue further study.
Professor Hay praised Good Universities Guides authors Dean Ashenden and Sandra Milligan for undertaking at a high level of professionalism, the difficult task of leading consumers through the mass of information defining Australia's 37 universities.
When the Australian university and college sectors were merged a decade ago as the so-called unified national system, it was clear that diversity, rather than uniformity among institutions, would have to emerge, Professor Hay said.
"It is in the national interest and to the benefit of consumers that the differences among universities are identified and openly discussed," Professor Hay said.
"Too much rhetoric is directed towards claiming that universities are the same, when the reality is that they are very different in their missions, their make-up and their levels of performance", he said.
"To succeed, universities must be increasingly conscious of their strengths and weakness, realistic about their missions, and focussed in their strategic planning. They must know and cater for their markets and measure the achievements against appropriate benchmarks.
"The University of Queensland is one of only a very small number of universities in Australia that can claim to be a comprehensive and research-intensive university, able to perform to genuinely world-class standards across their broad range of disciplines.
"The University of Queensland's policy is to compare itself with the best not with the nearest, and it is engaged in several international benchmarking activities to provide assurance and enhancement of service quality," he said.
Professor Hay said it was imperative that the Government and the community recognise the real diversity within the Australian university system and support funding policies that encourage outstanding performance according to individual institutional mission and goals.
Guide authors Dean Ashenden and Sandra Milligan said this year they looked for the Australian university with the best track record in delivering for graduates employment or access to further study.
Their selection was based on performance evidenced in statistics over a three-year period. The core statistic was the proportion of graduates of first degrees who sought full-time work and found it by April of the year following graduation or who went on to further study.
Ashenden and Milligan said that year in, year out, more UQ graduates went into jobs or further study than the graduates of any other university in Australia.
"Across every one of its 27 fields of study, from accounting to engineering to medicine and veterinary science, UQ delivers," they said. "Only three times in the past three years has a single field of study at UQ dipped below the national average for graduate employment."
The University received the maximum five-star rating for positive graduate outcomes, prestige, student demand, research performance, gender balance and staff qualifications in the 1999 Good Universities Guide.
For further information: Professor Hay on (07) 3365-1300
Pictures of Professor Hay, the University and its logo can be downloaded from the UQ file transfer protocol (FTP) site: http://photography.cc.uq.edu.au
