November 29, 2017
UOW shines in student completion and graduate employment
National figures endorse personalised student experience focus.
University of Wollongong (UOW) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings, CBE, has welcomed today’s release of national statistics ranking the University fourth in NSW and seventh in Australia for student completion rates.
With 75.2% of its students who commencing bachelor degrees in 2010 having completed their degree by 2015, UOW ranked well compared to other non-metropolitan institutions and ahead of several universities located in Australia’s major capital cities, including some Group of 8 universities.
UOW was also one of only three universities in NSW and one of only five universities nationally achieving a completion rate in excess of 75% in all of the six year evaluation periods included in the report.
These latest student completion figures accord with the graduate outcome figures released earlier this year in the 2017 national Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) data, which showed 73.1% of UOW graduates secure full-time employment within four months of completing their course - well above the national average of 69.5%.
The statistics released by Federal Education and Training Minister, Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham, were coupled with a call on Australian universities to keep the focus on student outcomes – a call Professor Wellings also welcomed.
“The University of Wollongong has long had a laser sharp focus on offering our students a personalised and supportive learning experience and in developing exceptional graduates who are highly sought after in the workplace.
“These latest completion rate statistics, together with the 2017 national graduate employment outcomes results, are a clear endorsement of the sharp student focus our teaching and support staff have had here at UOW over many years,” Professor Wellings said.
These comparatively high completion rates have been achieved despite the University offering a large number of longer bachelor degrees, with many programs in the fields of engineering, psychology, medicine and law requiring a minimum of four or five years to complete full-time.
UOW has also achieved these student completion and graduate employment outcomes despite attracting a comparably higher proportion of students who do not come from higher socio-economic backgrounds or who are the first in their family to attend university.