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Why should you participate?

The SES is your chance to have your say about what it’s like being a higher education student in Australia today. By sharing your experiences, you can assist institutions and the government to improve course offerings, student services and campus facilities.

How will the data be used?

Data collected through the QILT suite of surveys – including the SES - drives the ComparED website. Prospective students can use ComparED to explore and compare Australian higher education institutions and courses, based on the real-life experiences of current students and recent graduates.

Prize draw

You could win a prize by completing the SES. The earlier you complete the survey, the more chances you have to win.

Your privacy

The Social Research Centre respects your privacy and complies with the Australian Privacy Principles. Click below to view the SES Privacy Notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please click on the headings below to reveal further information.

The Social Research Centre is commissioned as an agent of the Australian Government Department of Education (the department) under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to conduct the QILT suite of surveys, including the SES.
The survey takes approximately 10-15 minutes, depending on your answers and program of study.
All students invited to participate in the SES are initially approached via email. Some students may also receive an invitation via SMS or telephone call.
The aim of the SES is to give students the opportunity to talk about their experience at the institution they are enrolled in. The results of the research provide higher education providers and the government insight into students’ experiences. Higher education providers use QILT data to assess their performance and support their continual improvement efforts in key areas such as teaching practices, learner engagement and student support. The government use QILT data to inform policy development and research regarding the quality of higher education in Australia. 

Results from the SES also provide the underlying information for the ComparED website where prospective students can explore and compare Australian higher education institutions and study areas based on the real-life experiences of current students and recent graduates. 

So your participation is an important part of improving the quality of tertiary education in Australia. 

The main SES data collection is conducted throughout the month of August. Another smaller collection is conducted in September.

No, the Racism@Uni survey is not the same as the Student Experience Survey (SES).

  • The SES is part of the QILT suite and focuses on teaching quality, learning resources, and student support. It is administered by the Social Research Centre.
  • The Racism@Uni survey is run by the Australian Human Rights Commission and examines experiences of racism in universities to drive inclusivity initiatives.

While both surveys will run around the same time (August–September 2025), and involve similar student cohorts, they serve different purposes and are managed separately.

For more details, visit the Racism@Uni Study website.

When you enrolled in your current course, your higher education provider (institution) collected your personal information to process and manage your enrolment.

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified or reasonably identifiable individual.

Personal information about you, such as your contact details, course details, citizenship and residence status and disability status, amongst other details were provided to the Social Research Centre by your institution for the purposes of administering the data collection for the SES.

Your responses to the SES will be linked with personal information (such as your age group, citizenship and residence status, and your disability status) and course data provided by your institution. This allows the questionnaire to be shortened as we do not need to ask specific details about your background or your course in the survey.

The Social Research Centre complies with the Australian Privacy Principles. All personal contact information such as name, email and phone number is removed from the final data. Only aggregated data is used in the research findings published on the QILT and ComparED websites.

Please see QILT: Student Experience Survey (SES) Privacy Notice for more details.  

If you have any questions about your participation in the survey or would like to make a time for an interviewer to call you, please call the Social Research Centre on 1800 055 818 (a free call).
In total there are four prize draws per collection open to participants. Detailed information regarding the prize draws, including the prize draw terms and conditions, and publication of winners can be found here: www.srcentre.com.au/sestcs.