A Victorian agriculture college has been voted among the top education experiences in the country.
The national University Experience Survey 2014 has revealed Marcus Oldham has significantly outscored the average in both the ‘quality of entire educational experience’ and ‘overall quality of teaching’ categories. The college is ranked in the top five per cent for ‘quality of entire educational experience’.
Developed in 2011, piloted in 2012 and conducted nationally for the first time in 2013, the University Experience Survey was developed to measure and improve the tertiary experience. In 2014, all 40 of Australia’s universities participated, and this year, for the first time, so did 15 volunteer non-university higher education institutions.
More than 108,000 students participated in the survey, with the response rate varying between institutions – the lowest at 21pc, higher response rates at around 50pc – and Marcus Oldham’s response rate close to 90pc. All figures were carefully aggregated and calibrated to ensure final figures represented equal share findings, regardless of the size of institution or response rate.
It’s a welcome accolade for the Geelong institution, which has specialised in diplomas and degrees in agriculture, agribusiness and equine management since 1962.
Principal Simon Livingstone said the result demonstrated the staff’s commitment to education.
“When it comes to the learning experience and future success of our students, we mean business,” Dr Livingstone said.
He said other key factors that likely contributed to the high rate of student satisfaction were courses structured on the “Harvard experience” that were based on case-study learning, high student contact hours, small class sizes and skilled industry lecturers.
