Welcome and what this session covers

G'day, and welcome to the Choosing Your Uni National Virtual Expo. My name is Rob Malicki, and welcome to this session on Edith Cowan University, ECU. Before we kick off, I'd just like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live and work, which is the Whadjuk, or people of the area or nation, and also acknowledge other custodians.

What we're going to be covering in the next 20 minutes is what Edith Cowan University, ECU, is actually known for and who does well studying there. We're going to hear a bit about what some students say about studying at ECU, and we're going to find out about its academic strengths. Then we're going to get into the hard data, talking about things like student satisfaction, what employers cite, graduate starting salaries, essentially all the data you need to know and what it actually means for you. I'm going to get behind the hype and tell you what it actually means. And finally, I'm going to talk about which institutions I would consider comparing ECU against, just to help you build your shortlist.

If you're watching live, you can drop your questions in the chat and I'll endeavour to get to them throughout this session. If I don't get to your questions, you can jump into the Choosing Your Uni Discord, details down below, where you can ask all the questions, whether it's about ECU or more broadly about university or finding your path in regards to your career. And if you're a parent or carer, we have a dedicated Facebook community just for you. Details in the session description below.

What makes ECU distinctive: teaching quality, practical learning, and WAPA

Let's talk about what makes ECU distinctive. I'm going to hone in on three separate things. The first is that it's really what you'd consider a teaching-first university, only in the sense that it's not one of the Group of Eight, which is generally considered research-intensive. It does produce a whole bunch of world-class research in many different areas, but if you're looking for a purely research-focused university experience, it's not one of the Group of Eight.

That said, it does have that 18-year, five-star teaching quality streak, and that comes from the QILT data. That's the national survey system where actual students are rating their experience at various universities in different fields of study. So it's not the university saying, good on us, we've done an awesome job. That's literally data from thousands and thousands of students, year after year, saying the teaching here is genuinely good. And that's not nothing. In fact, among universities, ECU consistently outperforms some of the most famous names when it comes to student satisfaction, and we're going to get into those exact numbers later.

The second thing I'd like to hone in on is the really practical, career-focused DNA. ECU started life as a teachers' college back in 1902, and it became a university in 1991. It was named after Edith Cowan, who was the first woman elected to any Australian parliament. And that history really matters, because it's shaped the culture of the place. This is a place where work-integrated learning, placements, industry projects, and clinical hours aren't just an add-on. They're really woven into degree structures across things like nursing, education, engineering, performing arts, and much more. So if you're the kind of person who learns by doing, not just by reading, that to me is a real advantage.

It's also worth noting that ECU offers merit-based scholarships worth up to $5,000 a year for high achievers, and engineering scholarships worth up to $20,000. So there is some incredibly generous funding support available for students from the university.

The third thing I would hone in on around ECU, and I don't really like to single out specific subject areas that much, but this one is the absolute standout, I think, in all of Australia, and that's the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, WAPA. For mine, it is one of the best performing arts training institutions in the entire country. It's produced a genuinely impressive list of alumni in theatre, music, dance, and screen. So if you are serious about a career in the performing arts, WAPA absolutely belongs on your shortlist, and that doesn't matter if you are in Perth or if you're on the other side of the country. You should be thinking about ECU and the new ECU City Campus for performing arts.

Having visited the new campus, it's absolutely a stunning facility. The university invested over $850 million to build this major presence right in the heart of the Perth CBD. It's not just a building, it's a place. It has incredible performance venues and training spaces for WAPA, production studios, a cyber security operations centre, and teaching spaces for business, creative industries, and technology. That's genuinely transformative for a university that's historically been known as a suburban campus, and I think it's going to transform the centre of Perth.

What students say about studying at ECU

But before I take you through all of the information that's about to come, let's hear from a student who has studied at Edith Cowan University.

"It's very enjoyable. It's very open and accessible. You don't feel like you're segregated, or like the uni is better than you, which is a nice feeling, coming from a different uni. It's easy to get around, easy to find your way. Staff are always helpful, and I find it very enjoyable."

When it comes to listening to feedback from students when you're choosing your uni, hearing from people who've been there actually matters. But remember, it's only one perspective.

Here's a perspective from another student who came straight out of high school into ECU:

"I've come straight out of high school, straight into uni, and I've found it's kind of similar, but you've also got that freedom that you didn't have in high school. You've got your own time to study, and with paramedicine in particular, everyone's out to help you. They all want to make sure you succeed. So that's a big plus with Edith Cowan. I found they make it easier. The accessibility is really, really great."

ECU's academic strengths: nursing, cyber security, sport science, education, and more

Let's get into what ECU is academically strong at, and there are many areas. Firstly, nursing and health sciences. This is arguably one of ECU's single strongest discipline areas. Nursing at ECU is ranked in the global top 100. The School of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Medical and Health Sciences together produce a huge number of Western Australia's nurses, paramedics, and allied health professionals. Programmes include extensive practical placements, so you're not just studying health in the classroom. You're working in hospitals and clinical settings during your degree.

Next, cyber security. ECU is recognised as a federal Academic Centre of Cyber Security Excellence. That's a government designation, and what it means is that the curriculum meets national standards for cyber security education. The ECU Security Research Institute backs that up with genuine research output around cyber security, and a lot of these technological disciplines are moving to, or have already moved to, the ECU City Centre campus, including the cyber security operations centre.

Another discipline area that's incredibly strong, and this one may surprise people a little, is sport and exercise science. Sport-related subjects are ranked around 36th in the world in the QS subject rankings. The Exercise Medicine Research Institute drives research into how exercise prevents and manages chronic disease, ageing, and mental health conditions. This is groundbreaking, nationally significant research. So if you're passionate about sport and science, this is a genuine area of national and international strength.

When it comes to education, given ECU's long history and its origins as a teachers' college, it's no surprise that education remains a core strength of the university. The programmes are heavily practically oriented, with professional placements embedded throughout, and ECU trains a significant proportion of Western Australia's teachers.

I've already mentioned WAPA, but it deserves another mention in this academic section. The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts covers music, dance, musical theatre, production design, and screen arts. It's not a small creative industries department tacked onto the side of some other faculty. This is a fully fledged academy, absolutely full of industry connections, and absolutely worth a look.

One other area I'd like to pull out is ECU's marine and environmental science. The Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research does real field work in biodiversity conservation and marine ecology. Western Australia's coastline gives it the perfect natural laboratory. The opportunities to do real-life field work are among the best in the country. Other institutions that are really strong in marine and environmental sciences include Southern Cross University on the East Coast, James Cook University in Cairns, and the University of Tasmania, all extremely strong in that discipline area.

ECU's research output and what it actually means

ECU's research income overall was around $23.7 million in 2022. That's modest compared to the Group of Eight universities, which are Australia's leading research-intensive institutions and include the University of Western Australia, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Sydney. However, ECU's research punches above its weight in specific areas, and its field-weighted citation impact is significantly above the global average, which means the research that it does is noticed and referenced internationally.

When researchers create new cutting-edge research, we know it's great quality when other researchers around the world look at it and say, that's interesting, and reference it. So ECU is producing a lot of great-quality research that's being noticed globally.

Student satisfaction, graduate employment, and starting salaries

For those of you who are interested in rankings and data, this section is for you. I'm going to get behind the scenes of what all this data actually means. We're going to be talking about how ECU actually performs on student satisfaction, graduate employment, and salaries, and I'm going to tell you where ECU genuinely outperforms other universities that you might assume are better.

These numbers come from the national data set, QILT, the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching, which is a research survey produced by the Australian government. We've also got data from two major global ranking systems: QS and Times Higher Education.

Let's start with the key one, student satisfaction, which sits at 81.7%. That is well above the national average. To put that in context, that's higher than every single Group of Eight university in Western Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. Students are happier with their experience at ECU than students who have been to the University of Sydney or the University of Melbourne, and it backs that up with that five-star teaching streak that's been going for 18 years. Teaching quality is where ECU has really built its reputation, and when you start digging into the data, it absolutely confirms that across most of the subject areas the institution teaches. And importantly, this isn't marketing. This is what students have actually reported when surveyed.

Let's look at graduate employment. That sits at 77.1% of ECU graduates who are in full-time work within four months of finishing their degree. That's a solid result, but it's not quite at the top of the national table. The universities with the highest rates tend to be regional institutions, where students are graduating and moving straight into jobs where there's heaps of demand. Places like Charles Sturt University sit at 91%, which is an absolutely extraordinary figure. ECU's figure is comparable to many of the well-known metropolitan universities, and of course lots of students don't go straight into employment. They might be going on to further study or taking a break, so there are reasons why that number sits at 77%.

Now let's talk about median graduate salaries. The student in the middle of the pack earns $72,000 after finishing their ECU degree. That's a strong number. By comparison, the University of Melbourne, Australia's number-one globally ranked institution, sits at $65,300. ECU's figure is also higher than institutions like RMIT and several of the Group of Eight universities. What drives that? ECU's graduate mix is weighted towards those really practically oriented fields, things like health, nursing, education, and engineering, fields where starting salaries are relatively strong and employer demand for those graduates is really high.

Global rankings: what they measure and where ECU stands

Let's talk about global rankings. In the QS World Ranking, ECU ranks 26th in Australia and 487th in the world. In the Times Higher Education ranking, it's in the 350-to-400 band, ranking equal 23rd nationally.

A couple of notes. This puts ECU in the middle of the pack in terms of Australian universities, even though in some specific subject areas it's at the top of the pack. To be honest about it, a global position around that 300-to-400 mark puts ECU in the top two or three percentage points of universities in the entire world, so the quality of education you're going to get there is really strong when you compare it on a global scale.

One of the things those global rankings pay a lot of attention to is research output and what they call reputation surveys, basically asking people whether an institution is good. Those kinds of rankings really favour older, larger, research-intensive universities. For an institution like ECU that's really focused on teaching and applied subject areas, they tend to be disadvantaged in these rankings, and those rankings don't capture the full picture. That's why, for me, the student satisfaction numbers, the teaching and learning numbers, and the salary data are more important than global rankings.

How ECU compares to UWA, Curtin, and Deakin

Let's think about what institutions ECU would be comparable to. First, geography. If you're in Perth and want to stay in Perth, you're going to be comparing ECU against the University of Western Australia and most likely Curtin. UWA is the big-name Group of Eight research-intensive university in Perth. It's got the prestige, the sandstone, and the high global ranking. But here's the thing: ECU's student satisfaction is 81.7%; UWA's is 75.4. Deal-breaker? No. But worth thinking about. ECU's median graduate salary is $72,000 compared to UWA's $67,000. So if what you care about is the experience of actually being there and what you earn when you leave, ECU's numbers are genuinely compelling. UWA is a different kind of institution, one of my favourite campuses in all of Australia, with a vibrant student life, and it's really worth checking out that session as well.

Now let's look a little further afield and think about other institutions in Australia that might have a similar DNA. To me, ECU is comparable to something like Deakin University in Victoria. Most people wouldn't necessarily think that, but Deakin is very much a teaching-focused, career-oriented university that consistently ranks highly for student satisfaction. Like ECU, it doesn't have the prestige of the oldest sandstone university, but like ECU, its graduates really do well in the jobs market. So if you're looking to perhaps move away from Perth, maybe Deakin is worth a look. What I love about both Deakin and ECU is that these are dynamic institutions willing to take risks and do things differently. Deakin was one of the first into the online learning space some 20 years ago, before online learning was really a thing, and Edith Cowan has taken the big gamble of creating a brand-new city campus. To me, this speaks to the DNA of institutions that are really looking to do something different and deliver for their communities.

The other institution in Perth you'd probably compare against is Curtin University, which is a much bigger, more research-focused institution with a strong reputation in engineering, health, and resources. Its student satisfaction is a little bit lower than ECU's at 77.4%, but on global rankings it does rank higher than ECU at 183rd. For students who want something between ECU's teaching focus and research intensity, Curtin sits as an interesting middle ground.

Listener questions: the Joondalup campus and what to do if you hate your degree

We've had a couple of questions submitted in advance. Let's get to those. Firstly, from Brooke: ECU's Joondalup campus seems quite far from the Perth CBD. Is that a problem for internships and job opportunities?

No, not necessarily. It does have a really good transport connection from the Joondalup campus down to the centre of Perth. There are local opportunities as well. And in those practical areas where ECU has extraordinary strengths, like health and engineering, there's a lot of structured placements already built into your degree. The university has also intelligently moved subjects down to the new ECU City Campus that belong in the city centre: things like business, law, IT, and performing arts, all moved down so they can be closer to that business ecosystem. So I think the opportunities at ECU are as good as anywhere.

The next question comes from Robbie in Melbourne: what if I start a degree and realise I hate it? Is it a disaster to change?

No. And I'm so passionate about this. If you find yourself in a degree and you're not enjoying it, just change. The pain of making a decision like that can feel big, especially if you've got pressure from your parents wanting you to become a dentist or a nurse or whatever it might be. But you've got to face up to the reality of who you are at some point, and you're better off to rip off that bandage and make the decision to change to something you enjoy earlier, rather than waiting until two-thirds of the way through your life and saying, what am I doing in this job that I hate?

That doesn't mean you shouldn't persevere when things get hard. If you're finding things difficult but you're finding it rewarding, you're learning and you're moving forward, maybe it's time to knuckle down. Just because something is hard doesn't mean it's not the right thing for you. So think about how you feel. Is this an area that genuinely captivates you? Can you see yourself working in it in future? My analogy is always to think about it like doors that are open. When we go to university, lots of doors will open for you and it's up to you to decide which one to walk through. If you walk through a door and you're like, oh, I don't like what's in there, then step back, close that door, try the next one, and walk through it. Life unfolds like this. We're constantly opening new doors, looking through which ones are most interesting and appealing, and following that. And that's how exceptional careers are born.

Wrapping up: where to go from here

That's it for this session on Edith Cowan University. Thank you so much for joining me. If you have specific questions about any of these universities, the Choosing Your Uni Discord is there for you, and the Facebook community is there for parents. Details in the description below. I look forward to seeing you in other sessions throughout the Virtual Expo, and I hope you have yourself a great rest of the day.