Western Australia may be an export powerhouse, but the state capital Perth is also a vibrant place to live, work and study, particularly since it’s one of the closest Australian cities to Asia. That’s why WA’s universities have strong international appeal, as well as offering urban sophistication and research innovation – all of which help place many of them at the top of various global rankings for student experience.
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 229 current students and graduates of the past 10 years to identify the universities students rated the best in Western Australia. 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 Western Australia have been compared in this survey. In our 2023 student satisfaction review, we collected sufficient data for four universities (assessed by domestic and international students) to be included in our ratings. So, which are the highest-rated universities in Western Australia for student satisfaction?
Here are the universities in Western Australia that were included in Canstar Blue’s 2023 student satisfaction survey, listed below in alphabetical order.
| University | Locations |
|---|---|
| Curtin University | Perth, Kalgoorlie & regional centres |
| Edith Cowan University (ECU) | Perth & Bunbury |
| Murdoch University | Perth, Rockingham, Mandurah |
| University of Western Australia | Perth |
The University of Western Australia topped our universities review for Western Australia, with five star ratings for opportunities & career prospects after graduation, quality of education received, teaching staff, student support available, learning resources and overall student satisfaction.
Based primarily out of Perth, the University of Western Australia is arguably the largest university in Western Australia, offering multiple main divisions – architecture, landscape & visual arts, arts, business, education, engineering, computing & mathematics, law, medicine, dentistry & health sciences, Indigenous studies along with science. The University of Western Australia was ranked in the top 100 of the 2024 QS World University Rankings, with multiple subjects ranked in the top 50.
The University of Western Australia is also a member of the Group of Eight (Go8), which comprises of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities, with its focus on influencing the development of long-term sustainable education and research policies.
The University of Western Australia does offer online learning, with the university utilising Blackboard to house content and communicate with peers, along with Echo360 for lecture capturing and Microsoft Teams for online meetings. The university does offer select degrees as solely online options, although if you’re looking for a hybrid option, it’s best to contact the university directly to ensure the course and subject you’re interested in offers the option to join online.
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 five universities in Western Australia, all of which have campuses in Perth, with some also have regional centres. These institutions include Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, University of Notre Dame Australia and the University of Western Australia. Western Australia has other tertiary education providers such as Technical and Further Education (TAFE), the Engineering Institute of Technology, and other vocational education and training providers.
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.
Are you a current or aspiring university student and concerned about how much your phone plan costs per month? Canstar Blue has a collection of the best deals on student phone plans in Australia so you can find out if you can save more of those precious dollars each month.
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.
