The Mining Engineering honours program at UNSW achieves multiple 1st Place outcomes in the CEQ survey of teaching performance

Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) Data, 2004

According to the latest survey of graduating students, the Mining Engineering program at UNSW ranked highly in a number of teaching performance categories. These results are summarised in Table 1.

In comparison to all other institutions that offer a mining engineering honours undergraduate degree program in Australia, UNSW achieved best performance in all five reported measures these being:

  • Good Teaching Scale (GTS)
  • Clear Goals and Standards Scale (CGS)
  • Appropriate Assessment Scale (AAS)
  • Generic Skills Scale (GSS)
  • Overall Satisfaction Item (OSI)

Note. The results for Ballarat were not considered as there was only one respondent to the survey. It no longer offers a 4 year engineering degree program.  In comparison to all other engineering honours degree programs offered at UNSW, the Mining Program achieved best performance in all five measures.
In comparison to all honours degree programs offered at UNSW, the Mining Program achieved best performance in three measures and second best in a fourth measure. (Source: ceq04_area.csv accessed from AVCC website on 17/5/05 http://www.avcc.edu.au/content.asp?page=/policies_programs/graduates/ceq...)

Background

The Graduate Careers Council of Australia (GCCA) each year organise a survey of graduating students on behalf of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC). The purpose of the various surveys conducted by GCCA is to “provide feedback to institutions, which, in conjunction with other indicators, may assist planning and the development of quality improvement initiatives.” (1)

The surveys are also important “in providing information for current and prospective students, to university careers services and to others in the education field.” (1)

The 2004 CEQ survey of graduates included those who graduated in either April or October 2004.

The response rate to the survey of graduates from the mining program at UNSW was 55% with 10 out of a total of 18 graduates in 2004. The response rate in other programs and at other institutions is not known as “it is not currently possible for GCCA to provide accurate response rate data by the individual fields of study” (2). With regard to the interpretation of the survey data, the Code of Practice states that “a response rate of at least 70% is desirable” and further that “Caution should be exercised when drawing conclusions from small cells with low response rates.” (3)

Respondents to CEQ survey:

  • Number of bachelor degree graduates at UNSW in 2004
  • April: Honours degree – 9; Pass degree – 3
  • October: Honours – 2; Pass degree – 4
  • Total respondents in 2004 from all institutions in Australia that offer mining programs: Honours – 19; Pass – 36; Total – 55

Due to the low number of survey respondents from UNSW at the Pass degree level (n = 1), only the results for the Honours undergraduate degree have been presented.  The survey data presented five performance measures or scales at the institutional level. Results for a further six measures were aggregated and reported at the national level.

(1) AV-CC GCCA Code of Practice for Course Experience Questionnaire , January 2001, p2.
(2) ibid, p4
(3) ibid, p4

P Hagan
31 May 2005