Victoria is a vibrant state known for its arts, culture and stunning scenic locations such as The Grampians and Great Ocean Road. It is also known for its universities with top ranked uni’s like La Trobe and Deakin University based out of Victoria. With innovation and creative thinking at the center of many of the universities in the state, it’s no wonder many people flock south for their postgraduate education.
Such a choice can make picking one university hard, and since the majority of students surveyed by Canstar Blue (76%) said their university degree was vital for their future career prospects, and 56% called university the best time of their life from a social perspective, making the right choice is important.
Canstar Blue surveyed more than 707 current students and graduates of the past 10 years to identify the universities students rated the best in Victoria. There are a lot of university ratings out there, but we wanted to take a different approach by asking students to rate their university on a range of factors that were important to them and to understand how satisfied they were overall with their university experience. Please see our methodology here.
The winning university is the one that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Universities must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all universities available in Victoria have been compared in this survey. In our 2023 student satisfaction review, we collected sufficient data for eight universities (assessed by domestic and international students) to be included in our ratings. So, which are the highest-rated universities in Victoria for student satisfaction?
Here are the universities in Victoria that were included in Canstar Blue’s 2023 student satisfaction survey, listed below in alphabetical order.
| University | Locations |
|---|---|
| Deakin University | Melbourne, Geelong & Warrnambool |
| Federation University of Australia | Mount Helen, Churchill, Melbourne |
| La Trobe University | Melbourne & regional centres |
| Monash University | Melbourne |
| RMIT University | Melbourne & regional centres |
| Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne |
| University of Melbourne | Melbourne & regional centres |
| Victoria University (VU) | Melbourne |
La Trobe University topped our universities review for Victoria, with five star ratings for campus amenities, opportunities & career prospects after graduation, teaching staff, student support available, learning resources and overall student satisfaction.
La Trobe University, based primarily out of Victoria, is known for its academic excellence and is in the top 1% of universities worldwide, according to studies such as Time Higher Education and QS University Rankings. Some of La Trobe’s top ranking course offerings include Archaeology, Anthropology, Linguistics, Anatomy and physiology and Leisure management to name a few.
La Trobe is named after Charles Joseph La Trobe who was the first Superintendent of the Port Phillip District and first Lieutenant-Governor of the new colony of Victoria. He was known for his need to make a difference to the communities he served and for his progressive social values and their impact. The university continues to share these same values and is said to champion local communities and to pursue excellence and sustainability in all they do.
La Trobe University does offer online courses to suit student’s location and lifestyle. The university offers both postgraduate and undergraduate degrees in areas such as Diploma of Arts, Diploma of Business, Bachelor of Psychological Science and more. Its online learning is flexible and able to be adjusted to suit students’ work and lifestyle.
Interested in finding out how students rated other top universities from around Australia? Click on the links below to read more about the top-rated universities in the country.
There are over 50 university campuses across Victoria in the central Melbourne region as well as in more rural areas. The main universities in the Melbourne City region include La Trobe, Monash and RMIT and in more regional areas there are universities such as Federation University and Deakin university in Geelong. As far as universities themselves go, there are nine public universities in the state.
Current and past students surveyed by Canstar Blue were asked to name the key reasons for choosing their university. The main factors identified included the reputation of the university, acceptance of enrolment from the university, and the physical location of the campuses.
Canstar Blue has a collection of the best deals on student phone plans in Australia. Find out if you could save more on a new phone plan.
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Site Editor, Dean Heckscher. He’s our resident expert on all things automotive, health & fitness, streaming and more. Dean is also one of Canstar Blue’s customer research report producers, helping to turn complicated subjects into easily-digestible information for our readers. He’s passionate about helping consumers make better-informed purchase decisions on all manner of consumer goods and services.
Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
