Welcome and session overview

G'day, and welcome to the Choosing Your Uni National Virtual Expo. I'm your host for this session. Welcome to this session on Federation University of Australia. Before I get started, I'd just like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation here in Sydney.

For those of you watching on the live stream, thank you for joining me live. You can drop your questions and comments into the chat regardless of whether you're on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok. Drop them in and I'll do my best to answer them during this session. If I don't get to them, I'll make sure they're available inside the Choosing Your Uni Discord for the virtual expo, and every question will get answered there. For those watching on the replay, you can also ask questions in the Discord, whether they're really specific to your personal case or really broad. And if you are a parent, we have a Facebook community just for you. Details about all of those things are down in the session description below.

This whole virtual expo wouldn't be possible without the support of our presenting sponsor, Southern Cross University. So a super quick word from them, and then we'll get right into the session.

So what are we going to cover in the next 20 minutes? We're going to talk about what Fed Uni is known for and what kind of student would be well suited to studying there. We'll hear about its academic strengths and how it ranks. We'll go into the hard data, things like student satisfaction, graduate employment rates, salaries, and rankings. And I'm going to be really straight with you about what those numbers actually mean and how you can use them to decide whether Fed Uni is the right institution for you. And finally, I'll give you some alternatives to consider, other universities that are similar to Fed Uni in different ways. Let's jump in.

Who is Fed Uni suited to?

Let's start by thinking about who might be well suited to studying at Fed Uni. But first, here's a stat that might surprise you: half the students at Federation University are the first in their family to have gone to university. Not 10%, not a quarter, but literally half. And that's the highest rate of any university in the country.

So what kind of student would be well suited to studying at Fed Uni? Let's look at who wouldn't be suited first. If you're looking for a big city campus with 50,000 students that's buzzing, with nightlife on the doorstep, Fed Uni is probably not for you. It's also probably not for you if you're really focused on rankings and prestige, or if having a big brand name on your resume is really important to you. And it's probably not for you if you want to keep your options wide open, spend a few years in broad study, and then niche down later. Fed Uni is really built around getting into the workplace: earn a good academic qualification and then get a job.

If you want small classes where your lecturers actually know your name, if you want serious work experience built right into your degree, and if you're the kind of person who doesn't need a sandstone building to tell you that education actually matters, then stick around. This is definitely an institution worth having a look at.

The three things that define Federation University

Let me give you three things that I think really define Fed Uni, and these may help you start to understand whether or not this institution is for you.

First and foremost, and I just alluded to it: the co-operative education model. This is the academic thing that Fed Uni hangs its hat on, and honestly it is genuinely distinctive from every other university in the country. Every undergraduate student, in every undergraduate degree, includes at least 60 days of accredited workplace experience. And the university pushes for those placements to be paid. This is truly unique. This is not two weeks of observation in a workplace where you stand around and make coffee. This is months of real workplace experience that is assessed as part of your degree. Fed Uni is rolling this out across all of its degree programmes, and it means that Fed Uni graduates walk into job interviews with something concrete and connected on their CV that almost every other graduate doesn't have.

The second thing about Fed Uni that I think is pretty unique is the culture. It's built around people who haven't necessarily got a background or family history of going to university. When half your student body is first in family, that really changes the atmosphere. There's less of that unspoken assumption that everybody already kind of knows how it works and that going to uni is basically guaranteed. And what that means is that the support systems, things like the Fed Ready Transition programme and the ASK Academic Skills service, aren't just afterthoughts bolted on. They're actually core to the way the place operates.

Also, and this is a big one for me: the student-to-teacher ratio is rated number one in Victoria in the Good Universities Guide. What that means in practical terms is that you're not sitting in a gigantic lecture hall with 400 other people, wondering if anyone even knows you exist. Class sizes are smaller, or significantly smaller, than some other institutions, meaning you get more of that one-on-one attention. And I think that shows up in the statistics we'll discuss shortly.

Third, Fed Uni is what we call a dual-sector institution. There are only a handful of them around Australia. What it means is that Fed Uni offers both university degrees and vocational-level programmes such as diplomas side by side. So if you're not sure whether you want to do a trade qualification, a business diploma, or a degree, Fed Uni lets you start in the vocational pathway and then work your way through into a full degree. Those pathways are already built, and that's a real advantage for certain types of students. Some of the other dual-sector institutions worth knowing about include Swinburne, RMIT in Victoria, and CQ University in Queensland. If you're not sure whether uni is for you, a dual-sector institution could give you that stepping-stone pathway from TAFE through to university.

Fed Uni's campus network across Victoria

Let's think about Federation University's campus network, because it has a number of campuses spread throughout Victoria. There's the main Ballarat campus, Gippsland is also a major campus, plus there's a suburban campus at Berwick in Melbourne's southeast. You might not be aware that there's also a very small Brisbane campus, which focuses on a few niche professional degrees.

The geographic spread is a feature of the institution, not a bug. It means the institution is generally embedded in the communities it serves. However, your experience will be very different depending on which campus you're at. Depending on where you live, it can also be an incredible advantage, because you can access Fed Uni whether you're in Ballarat or on the eastern side of Melbourne. That geographical spread provides opportunities for a wider range of students.

Academic strengths: health, engineering, education, and research

Let's jump into what academic areas Fed Uni is teaching and what it's really known for. The strongest academic areas are clustered around a few key zones. Health is a big one: nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and allied health programmes. These are all significant at Fed Uni, and they all have clinical placements across regional hospitals and health care services. If you're thinking of a career in health and you want hands-on clinical experience early, it's worth a look. There's also a genuine advantage to going into health care outside major metropolitan capitals. There are enormous opportunities for work and incredible placements across Australia's regions, and that doesn't just apply to Victoria.

Engineering, IT, and data science form another strong cluster. The Mount Helen campus in Ballarat has dedicated labs for civil, mechanical, and materials engineering, plus connections to the Ballarat Technology Park, which is right next door. That Tech Park isn't just a building: it houses real companies doing cutting-edge work. If you get involved with those companies, you get internships and real project opportunities. The proximity to the university is a genuine advantage there.

Education is also really embedded in Fed Uni's DNA. If we go back to the origins of the institution, it actually began as a teacher education and training institute. If you want to be a primary or secondary teacher and you want to do your placements in regional schools, the job market for teachers outside major capitals is absolutely enormous. There are so many shortages across regional Victoria. If you want to work in regional Victoria, or get that experience there and eventually transition back to your preferred metropolitan destination, Fed Uni has an advantage: you're already connected with those regional schools.

Sport and exercise science is another area where the university is particularly strong. The ERA assessment, which is the national research quality audit, has rated Fed Uni's human movement and sports science research at the highest possible level: well above world standard. The same goes for applied mathematics, environmental science, nursing, civil engineering, and clinical sciences. Around 80% of Fed Uni's research is rated at world standard or above, which is pretty remarkable for a regional university of this size.

Diploma pathways and scholarships

A quick word about Fed Uni's dual-sector setup: Fed Uni offers diplomas and advanced diplomas that articulate directly into bachelor's degrees. If you're finishing Year 12 and your ATAR isn't quite where you want it to be, or you don't feel ready for a three-year commitment, starting in a diploma and then stepping into the second year of a degree without losing any time is a legitimate pathway. Don't think of starting in a diploma as a consolation prize. Any kind of further education is really good for you in the long run. The data on that is absolutely unequivocal, and it's a pathway that literally thousands of students use across Australia every single year.

Now here's another one I think you're going to like: scholarships. Fed Uni awards over a thousand scholarships and grants each year. That includes equity scholarships for students from low-income or regional backgrounds, accommodation bursaries, support for international students, and Destination Australia Scholarships specifically for students studying in regional locations. If cost is a factor in your decision, and for a lot of people it really is, this is a place where financial support is real. And if you're living in regional Victoria, the overall cost of living is significantly lower, not just compared with Melbourne but especially compared with Sydney. Moving to a place like Ballarat or Gippsland gives you a much lower cost of living and a completely different university experience.

Student satisfaction, teaching quality, and graduate employment data

Here's what I want you to pay attention to in this next section. Fed Uni's graduate employment numbers tell a very different story to what you might expect for a university of its ranking and nature. Student satisfaction sits in an interesting spot too. It's not the highest you'll see in this series, but the reasons behind that number really matter. The data comes from the Australian Government's QILT, the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching, run by the Social Research Centre. We also have some global data from QS and the Times Higher Education Group.

Student satisfaction at Fed Uni sits at 76% overall. That's a touch below the national average. Three out of four students having an experience they're really satisfied with is not terrible and it's not outstanding. For comparison, the highest rated universities on this measure, Bond University and the University of New England, sit in the high 80s. But satisfaction scores are complicated: they're influenced by expectations. A university like Fed Uni, which has a really high proportion of first-in-family and regional students, faces some unique challenges here. A lot of students coming into the institution have no family history with higher education. They don't know what to expect. It's very hard to meet students' expectations when those expectations have never really been set in the first place. Honestly, I think that student satisfaction result is completely fine in that context.

When it comes to teaching quality, the Good Universities Guide rates Fed Uni number one in Victoria for its student-to-teacher ratio. That really translates into day-to-day meaningful measures: more tutorials, more face-to-face time with academics, and a better chance of getting the support you need.

Now here's the one I'm really chomping to get to, because this is where Fed Uni stands out in a way that is completely unexpected and delightful. Fed Uni's full-time employment rate for undergraduates is 80.8%. That's solid, and it's above the national average. But the postgraduate number is truly striking: 95.3% of postgraduate students who've completed their degree are in graduate employment within four months. That's one of the highest numbers in the entire country. What that says to me is that the co-operative education model, combined with the fact that Fed Uni is in regions where demand for skilled workers is high, means that graduates get jobs. I can see why this is such an appealing institution for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and first-in-family students. You want to go to uni, you want the experience, and you want a job on the other side. Fed Uni is a top option for that.

Graduate starting salaries and world rankings

When it comes to graduate starting salaries, Fed Uni sits at $71,000 for an undergraduate as the median starting salary. That's around about the middle of the pack for Australia, but it's actually higher than several Group of Eight universities. Melbourne Uni graduates have a median of $65,000, while UNE sits at $75,000. So Fed Uni at $71,000 is competitive. Part of that is driven by graduates going into regional roles in health, education, and engineering, where demand is high and starting salaries are really good.

Now let's have a look at world rankings, and I always like to put a caveat around these global rankings. If you're considering Fed Uni, its global ranking probably doesn't mean a lot to you, to be very honest. These rankings are heavily influenced by research output and international reputation, and Fed Uni hasn't got the kind of global reputation of an institution like the University of Sydney, the Australian National University, MIT, or the University of Cambridge. Fed Uni sits in the 501–600 band in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, equal 33rd in Australia. It's not a super strong result overall, but for a regional university of this size, supporting the kinds of students it does and producing the amount of research it does, it's basically what I'd expect. For most people looking at Fed Uni, what really matters is the cost, the job opportunities, and what your university experience will actually be like. Fed Uni is absolutely fine on all of those things.

How Fed Uni compares with similar universities

Let's think about how Fed Uni compares with other universities around Australia. If you're considering Fed Uni, you're probably looking at other universities at the same time. Who might you consider alongside it?

In Victoria, the institution that feels most similar to me is Deakin University, because of its geographical spread. Deakin has a couple of campuses in Melbourne city but also has a regional footprint in Geelong, Warrnambool, and Waurn Ponds. Deakin ranks higher in global rankings and has a really strong reputation for online and flexible study. Its student satisfaction is around 81% compared with Fed Uni's 76%, and its graduate employment is similar at around 80%. The difference is that Deakin doesn't have the dual-sector pathway, it doesn't have the co-operative education model binding it to every degree, and its class sizes are larger. But if you want more options and a bigger brand name, Deakin is the obvious alternative.

If you want an institution that's similar in terms of demographics and servicing low-socioeconomic or first-in-family students, there are a couple of institutions in Melbourne worth looking at. Victoria University in the west of the city also has a regional footprint and shares some of Fed Uni's academic strengths. And La Trobe University, which has regional campuses and a main campus in the north of Melbourne, shares Fed Uni's regional roots and its strong commitment to equity and access. La Trobe has a slightly lower student satisfaction at 73.8% and its graduate employment is also a little bit lower. You can compare all of these institutions easily on the Choosing Your Uni website, which is built as an independent platform allowing you to ask very specific questions comparing institutions, fields of study, and degrees, all configured around your interests and goals. It's completely free to use. Details in the session description.

For interstate options, I'd first point you to Charles Sturt University in New South Wales. It's also based in the regions and its institutional DNA is very similar to Fed Uni's. It has super-high rates of first-in-family students, a really strong graduate employment rate of 91.2%, a dual-sector approach, and degrees built around professional placements. If what Fed Uni offers appeals to you but you're open to looking beyond Victoria, Charles Sturt is an interesting comparison point.

Other regional institutions worth a look include the University of Southern Queensland, which has exceptional graduate outcomes, and CQ University in Rockhampton, which has strengths in health and engineering and also other fields of study not available at Fed Uni. I've got sessions on all of those institutions in the session catalogue below.

Audience questions: student life and employer perceptions

That's it for the main session. I do have some pre-submitted questions, so let's get to those quickly. And if I haven't gotten to your question in the chat, I'll answer all of them in the community Discord or in the Facebook group. Details are down below.

The first question came in from a parent based in Ballarat: what's student life actually like in a regional city compared with Melbourne? Ballarat has a really wonderful culture: lots of cafes, festivals, community activities. And it's a tight campus community, which I think is a real advantage if you're looking to feel more connected. It's not a massive city. Things aren't buzzing 24/7. It's a slower pace of life in regional Australia. Is a slower pace of life a bad thing? Definitely not. In fact, for some people it's exactly what they need. I highly recommend having a look if that kind of experience appeals to you.

The second question, from someone called Global Teen: is a degree from a smaller or regional uni taken as seriously by employers as one from a big city university? In most fields, and almost universally, I'd say the answer is yes. Employers want to know about your skills, your work experience, and how well you'll fit into their particular organisation. Having things like the co-op programme at Fed Uni, which gives you real-world experience, is an incredible advantage on a resume. The fact that there's a logo from a particular institution on your degree is far less important now than what you've actually done. And what you've done isn't just a degree: it's everything else you do at uni. The more you're involved in, the more you can put on your resume. It's not possible for everyone because of life and work commitments, but if you can, you will be rewarded for being involved in lots of things during your university experience.

It's been great chatting with you today about Fed Uni. I hope to see you over in the Choosing Your Uni Discord to answer all your questions one on one, and I'll see you in my upcoming sessions. Have a great time!