SES brandmark

Student Experience Survey

The SES is the only comprehensive survey of current higher education students in Australia. It focuses on aspects of the student experience that are measurable, linked with learning and development outcomes, and potentially able to be influenced by higher education institutions. Information collected in the SES helps higher education institutions and the government improve teaching and learning outcomes for students.

   Target population

Undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled in Australian higher education institutions

    Responses

Over 158,000 undergraduate students and 90,000 postgraduate coursework students in 2024

   Survey cycle

Conducted annually in August and September

Data for the reports (2024 SES Report Tables) are available to download on the 'Resources' page of the QILT website.
.

2024 SES Results Summary

Undergraduate Overall Educational Experience ratings in 2024 (76.5 per cent) remained broadly the same as 2023 (76.7 per cent). This continued the improvement in ratings from 2021 to 2022 but remain below the 78 per cent to 80 per cent range observed prior to 2020. Postgraduate coursework student ratings followed a similar pattern, however, were slightly above the ratings recorded prior to 2020.

Undergraduate ratings for Peer Engagement have increased year-on-year since 2020 (44.5 per cent), with the 2024 result (60.2 per cent) being equal to the highest rating (2019) since the survey began in 2017. Conversely, undergraduate ratings for Student Support and Services have declined since 2019. The 2023 and 2024 results (71.2 per cent) were the lowest since the survey began.

Postgraduate students’ ratings for all five focus areas have improved year-on-year since 2021, and are the highest ratings on record since the survey began in 2017. Peer Engagement has shown the largest improvement from 53.8 per cent in 2019 to 62.1 per cent in 2024.

For further details, see the 2024 SES National Report and data visualisation above.

 

 

Download the latest reports

SES
Reports
2024
.pdf 4.37 MB
SES
Reports
2024
.pdf 4.37 MB
SES
Reports
2024
.docx 10.1 MB
SES
Reports
2024
.docx 10.1 MB
SES
Reports
2024
.zip 7.81 MB
SES
Reports
2024
.zip 7.81 MB
SES
Reports
2023
.pdf 2.74 MB
SES
Reports
2023
.pdf 2.74 MB
SES
Reports
2023
.docx 888 KB
SES
Reports
2023
.docx 888 KB
SES
Reports
2023
.pdf 487 KB
SES
Reports
2023
.pdf 487 KB
SES
Reports
2023
.zip 6.45 MB
SES
Reports
2023
.zip 6.45 MB

About the SES

The SES is the only comprehensive survey of current higher education students in Australia. It focuses on aspects of the student experience that are measurable, linked with learning and development outcomes, and potentially able to be influenced by higher education institutions. The survey collects information that helps both higher education institutions and the government improve teaching and learning outcomes. The SES has been administered annually since 2012.

Commencing and later year undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled in Australian higher education institutions are in scope for the SES, including both domestic and onshore international students. 

Information on the ComparED website about student learning experiences is sourced from the SES, including responses from both domestic and onshore international students, at undergraduate and postgraduate coursework level. Survey results from the two most recent collection years are pooled to improve the reliability of the information. The six indicators from the SES displayed on the ComparED website each show the percentage of students providing positive feedback on various aspects of their higher education experience, including:

  1. Quality of entire educational experience
  2. Teaching quality and engagement
  3. Peer engagement
  4. Learning resources
  5. Student support and services
  6. Skills development

The questions which comprise each indicator are detailed below. 90 per cent confidence intervals are displayed to provide a measure of accuracy of the estimates. For technical details about the calculations used to score data derived from the SES, please see the document, Production Scores in the SES.

Overall quality of educational experience

The percentage of students who rated the overall quality of their educational experience positively, based on an individual question in the SES.

Teaching quality and engagement

The percentage of students who rated the quality of teaching they have experienced positively.

Peer engagement

The percentage of students who rated their engagement with learning and interactions with other students positively.

Learning resources

The percentage of students who rated the learning resources provided by their institution positively.

Student support and services

The percentage of students who rated the support and services provided by their institution positively.

Skills development

The percentage of students who rated the skills development they experienced through their studies positively.

Student Experience Questionnaire (SEQ)

Data for the SES is collected through the Student Experience Questionnaire (SEQ).