At long last, the Good Education Group has released The Good Universities Guide 2017! With university applications just around the corner, this could not have come at a more crucial time. Here I’ll try and give you a breakdown of what’s new, important things to consider while you’re browsing through the universities and what you can expect to find in this years Good Universities Guide.
What’s new to our Universities?
- Queensland is joining the ATAR game: Queensland has until now had their own assessment and ranking schedule different to the rest of the states and territories. However, the Good Universities Guide has just announced that the Queensland Class of 2018 will be the last to receive an Overall Position (OP) before it is replaced with the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), joining the rest of the country. This will also see the introduction of new external assessments similar to that of the Higher School Certificate (HSC).
- UPDATE on the 2014-15 budget higher education reform: The Good Universities Guide also released a statement on the controversial deregulation of university fees suggested in the 2014-15 Federal Budget and which would affect students from 2016. The suggested changes would see public universities given full freedom to set their own undergraduate fees, meaning that universities could charge as high a fee as they like. The reform was also intending to reduce the federal government’s fee subsidy in a push to lower the repayment threshold for those who have Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) Debts (which to almost every low to middle class university applicant, is one of the only reasons we can study!). These loans are repaid through the Australian taxation system and repayments start once the graduate has reached the $54,869 threshold (assigned for 2016-17 financial year). Stress less for the moment everybody as the most recent budget (2016-17) has sidelined the reform (WOO!), but that doesn’t mean it’s over. We can still wait expectantly for an overhaul of the sector, however this isn’t going to see changes put into place until 2018 with final changes made at the end of 2016.
- Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s): Okay, so not so new, but this year the Guide has given a big thumbs up to the MOOC’s as a way to “try before you buy” different subjects. What’s a MOOC, I hear you all ask? Good Question! It is FREE for all (No admission fee) courses with no entry requirements (meaning you don’t have to have an ATAR or even finished year 12) that allow you explore subject areas through online courses much like that experienced at university with quizzes, group chats, assignments etc. You also have an opportunity to engage with specialists in that field and give you an opportunity to experience first hand what a degree in that area will entail.
Making Decisions
- Picking an institution: The Good Universities Guide gives you a great breakdown of where the different institutions sit in relation to each other on issues such as employability, salary, student experience, teaching experience etc. Although it makes explicitly clear that no university is superb at everything, it’s a good place to start if you have reservations about some aspects of different universities. For example, if you didn’t want to go to a large institution like Sydney or Melbourne, thanks to your trusty Good Universities Guide, you might consider a university with a smaller student body such as Notre Dame or Southern Cross. Alternatively, a larger student body wouldn’t bother you so much, but you would appreciate a good student to staff ratio, in which case you might think about UNSW or Sydney who have 5 star ratings in this area. For those of you who are surer of where you want to apply for, or at least know in what state you want to stay, it also gives you a complete state-by-state outline of universities and what they offer.
- Picking a course: Although this section of the guide is over 100 pages long, it has the most comprehensive discussion of all the things you need to know before deciding to steer your life into a particular career path. It includes where you can study, what you’re in for and student profiles to get a first hand experience of someone who’s done it all before!
Things to keep in mind when picking a course:
- Some course (surveying, medicine etc.) lock you into a job at the completion of your degree
- Some courses (engineering) have ‘core’ courses that are industry requirements and you absolutely have to complete to come away with a degree. Other courses such as humanities and art, allow a lot more flexibility in choosing your electives and specialties.
At 445 pages long, I cannot recommend this document enough! If you are unsure about where you are going, what you will be doing or who you will be doing it with, or even if you are sure and need more information, the Good Universities Guide 2017 has it all and more. Although I can tell you the basics of what’s great about the recent guide, you’ll have to take a look yourself so you can match your own interests with the right university. Good luck guys, University is GREAT!
