New South Wales is home to some of the best universities in Australia, and the world, with academic excellence at their core.
Choosing a university to attend can be difficult, and since the majority of students surveyed by Canstar Blue (79%) said their university degree was vital for their future career prospects, and 60% called university the best time of their life from a social perspective, making the right choice is important.
Canstar Blue surveyed more than 533 current students and graduates of the past 10 years to identify the universities students rated the best in New South Wales. There are many university ratings out there, but for this survey, Canstar Blue asked 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 New South Wales have been compared in this survey. In our 2024 student satisfaction review, we collected sufficient data for seven universities (assessed by domestic and international students) to be included in our ratings. So, which are the highest-rated universities in New South Wales for student satisfaction?
Here are the universities in New South Wales that were included in Canstar Blue’s 2024 student satisfaction survey, listed below in alphabetical order.
| University | Locations |
|---|---|
| Charles Sturt University | Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Port Macquarie and Wagga Wagga |
| Macquarie University | Sydney |
| University of Newcastle | Newcastle, Central Coast, Sydney and Singapore |
| University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Sydney, regional NSW and Canberra |
| University of Sydney | Sydney |
| University of Technology Sydney | Sydney |
| Western Sydney University | Sydney |
Charles Sturt University received five stars for quality of education received, opportunities and career prospects after graduation, student support available, campus amenities and overall satisfaction.
Charles Sturt University was the first certified carbon neutral university in Australia and is also ranked number one in Australia for graduate employment.
More than half of enrolled students at Charles Sturt University finished their courses online from 2022-23.
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 11 universities in the state of New South Wales within central city areas and in more rural New South Wales.
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 enrollment from the university, and the physical location of the campuses. These are the reasons students and graduates cited for choosing their university:
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This article was written by Canstar Blue Home & Lifestyle Content Producer, Rachel Bollerman. Rachel graduated with a Bachelor of Communications, majoring in Journalism at the Queensland University of Technology. She has worked in a variety of public relations, marketing and communications roles, gaining experience in community management, social media marketing, blog writing and other styles of copywriting. When she’s not working, Rachel enjoys doing arts and crafts projects at home and spending time with friends.
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 two years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
Here are the past winners from Canstar Blue’s New South Wales university ratings:
