News

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer

Avondale College has received an unprecedented seven five-star ratings in The Good Universities Guide 2010.

Most of the ratings are 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. President Dr Ray Roennfeldt says it is because quality education and quality of student life are at the core of Avondale's reason for being. "These values drove a group of education reformers to establish Avondale in 1897 and they continue to drive us today." He describes the ratings as "wonderful" and acknowledges the influential role of Avondale's staff members. "They make the 'Avondale experience' real for our students," he says.

The other five-star ratings are for access by equity groups and for graduate starting salary. Avondale also receives four stars for indigenous participation, three for student demand, the proportion of entrants who are school leavers and getting a full-time job, two for entry flexibility and positive graduate outcomes, and one for gender balance and cultural diversity.

Making personal contact with graduates this year contributed to the ratings, with Avondale receiving a 51 per cent response rate to the 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.

Released this past Wednesday (August 12), 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.