Welcome and what this session covers

G'day, and welcome to the National Virtual Expo and this session on Macquarie University. I'm your host, Rob Malicki, and I'm coming to you today from Garigal land in Sydney to pay my respects to the traditional custodians of this land.

Before I get started, I just want to let you know what's coming up in the next 20 minutes or so. Firstly, hello to everyone joining me live. If you're watching, you can ask any questions you've got in the chat. Whether you're on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, or on the session hub, make sure you ask any questions you've got. We'll try to get to them during this session, or we will answer them on the Uni Discord at the end. Links to the Discord are down below, as is the link to the Facebook community for parents. Ask your questions freely, whether they're specifically about Macquarie or more generally about going to uni and studying.

In this session, we're going to be talking about what Macquarie Uni is known for, who would be well suited to studying there, and what students say about studying at Macquarie. I'm going to look at the different academic strengths and research strengths as well. Finally, we're going to be looking at the data about Macquarie University - how it ranks, student satisfaction - and I'm going to be really straight with you about what those numbers actually mean. You're always going to see the glossy headline numbers from a particular institution, so I'll take you behind the curtain to understand what that all means. And of course, I'll tell you which institutions I would actively consider Macquarie University against if I were making the choice myself.

Is Macquarie University right for you?

Macquarie University has its own metro station right on campus. You tap on at whatever your origin station is - it might be in the centre of the city or way out west - and you ride straight into Macquarie and tap off at your lecture. In a city where your commute can literally eat your whole life, this isn't a minor detail. It literally changes how you experience uni every single day.

But here's the thing: Macquarie probably isn't for you if you're looking for a really small, intimate campus where everybody knows your name. There are 44,000 students at Macquarie and it's pretty big. It's a distinctive institution in the sense that it's got this one main campus. It's also probably not for you if you're absolutely set on going to a Group of Eight university - one of those research-intensive, prestigious institutions like Sydney Uni, UNSW, or the University of Melbourne. Macquarie isn't in that group, but it sits just outside it, which is a position that actually tells you something interesting, and we're going to get to that.

It also probably isn't for you if you're looking for a campus that's right in the heart of the city, like RMIT in Melbourne or UTS in Sydney. Macquarie Park is located 16km north-west of the city centre. It's suburban, it's green, and it's quiet in a way that the inner city isn't. However, as I mentioned at the start, that Metro gets you from suburban Macquarie into the heart of the city in just 20 or 25 minutes. So maybe it could be the best of both worlds for some students.

What students say about studying at Macquarie

Before we go on, I'd like to share a student experience with you. Let's hear from a student who's actually studied at Macquarie University.

Rob: Is there anything that you feel people need to know specifically about this place?

Guest: Lots has been said about Macquarie. I think it's fantastic. It's giving me the skills to take me on the next step in my journey to enter the career feeling prepared. And meeting some of those closest friends, having the best time, going to lots of great parties and functions - just having a great time while being able to balance social life, sport, physical activity, and study.

Three things that define Macquarie University

Let's talk about three things that I think define Macquarie University. The first is location - and it's not just a postcode, it's an academic strategy. Macquarie Park isn't just a suburb. It's what they call an innovation district, and it's one of Sydney's biggest clusters of tech companies, financial services, media organisations, and health employers. The university didn't end up there by accident. Its campus is surrounded by the kinds of organisations that hire graduates, and that proximity feeds into things like internships, research partnerships, and the kind of casual networking that happens when your campus shares a neighbourhood with major employers. The university has had a strategy over many decades to bring major organisations on campus, and we've seen that through with many, many organisations now based on the fringes of Macquarie's campus.

The second thing that stands out is the PACE program. PACE stands for Professional and Community Engagement, and it's built into a huge number of Macquarie degrees. It means that as part of your degree, you do genuine work placements, community projects, or industry partnerships. This isn't just a token week of observation. It's structured, it's assessed, it's credit-bearing, and the experience is in real workplaces or community organisations. If you are someone who learns better by doing rather than just sitting in lectures, this is one of the stronger work-integrated learning models in Sydney.

The third thing that stands out at Macquarie is the Health and Hearing precinct. Macquarie has something that almost no other Australian university has: a private teaching hospital on campus. The Macquarie University Hospital sits right alongside the Australian Hearing Hub and the NextSense Centre for Innovation. If you're interested in health, hearing sciences, speech pathology, cognitive science, or biomedical research, this cluster of facilities gives you clinical exposure and research access from early in your degree. It's unusual and it's a genuine differentiator for students in those disciplines.

One thing I want to be upfront about is that Macquarie is a commuter campus for a lot of its students. On-campus housing and residential life is growing, but the reality is that many students drive or take the metro to get to classes and then head home. That's not a criticism - it's just the nature of a large suburban campus in Sydney. So if you want the full residential college, living-on-campus experience, there are some options at Macquarie, but you might want to think about which other institutions tick that box better. The Australian National University in Canberra and the University of New England in Armidale are a couple of options with really strong on-campus accommodation.

Academic strengths: business, health sciences, and law

Let's jump into the academic and research strengths of Macquarie University. It's structured around four faculties: Arts; Medicine, Health and Human Sciences; Science and Engineering; and the Macquarie Business School. It's a really broad spread, and it supports one of Macquarie's real strengths - a large portfolio of double degrees that allows you to combine fields in ways that many universities can't match.

Business and finance are longstanding academic strengths of the institution. The Macquarie Business School has really strong industry connections, partly because of where it sits geographically among that business park surrounded by corporate headquarters. Areas like accounting, applied finance, and economics have been flagship areas for decades, and they continue to attract high enrolments and strong employer recognition. If you're interested in applied finance and actuarial studies, these are some of the strongest programmes in Australia.

Hearing, speech pathology, and cognitive science are areas where Macquarie has a national and international reputation that punches well above what you would expect. The Australian Hearing Hub brings together researchers, clinicians, and industry partners in one facility. If you're interested in audiology, speech pathology, or linguistics, this is arguably one of the strongest environments in the entire country. Related to those is cognitive science research - essentially understanding how the brain processes language and sound. Macquarie is incredibly strong in the cognitive sciences, and this feeds into programmes across health and science.

Law at Macquarie has a growing profile, especially with the recent opening of the Michael Kirby Building, named after the former High Court justice. It's the new home of the Macquarie Law School and provides modern teaching and collaboration spaces. The law school is newer than those at the Group of Eight universities, but it's building a reputation, and having been there recently, the facilities for law students are absolutely first-rate.

Research strengths: astronomy, RNA science, and social inclusion

Science and engineering at Macquarie actually divide into different worlds. Science goes way back to the beginning of the institution; engineering is a relatively recent addition. But both benefit from specialised research infrastructure. Australian Astronomical Optics Macquarie is a hub for astronomical instrumentation - they basically help build the technology that goes into some of the world's most powerful telescopes. If you're interested in space, physics, and optical science, this is one of the few places in Australia doing this kind of work.

There's also a planned RNA research and manufacturing facility under construction on campus, focused on RNA therapeutics and biomanufacturing. This is the technology that essentially prevented Covid from becoming far worse than it already was. This kind of cutting-edge biomedical manufacturing became globally significant during the pandemic, and it's really interesting to know that Macquarie is putting its stamp on that space, because RNA is fascinating when it comes to biology and health, and the technology has enormous implications going forward.

Education and social inclusion are also areas where Macquarie does significant outreach work, particularly in widening participation for students from underrepresented backgrounds. The equity scholarship programme is quite substantial. And as I mentioned earlier, the PACE programme runs across all four faculties - so regardless of whether you're studying arts, business, science, or health, there's a pathway to get you real professional experience as part of your degree. At some universities, work placements are concentrated in a few vocational degrees and everyone else misses out. Macquarie has a much wider footprint in that space.

On research income: Macquarie's research income has been growing consistently. It reached $170 million in 2023, and the institution has been very strategic about concentrating its efforts in priority areas rather than trying to be everything to everyone. That's a smart approach for a university that's not in the Group of Eight but definitely wants to compete with them on specific fronts.

The campus atmosphere - another student perspective

Rob: Tell me a little about the atmosphere here on campus.

Guest: Electric. We've got such beautiful weather today - a fantastic day to be exploring the 126 hectares around here. There's just so much to do and so much to see.

Rob: What are you most looking forward to?

Guest: Food. That's my favourite part about campus. We have so many amazing restaurants, a great food court. It is electric, especially when I have food in my stomach after class - that's the best part. But it's also so good to see so many new students, or potential students, here on campus today. It's the biggest day of the year, and it's fun to see so many smiling faces.

Rankings and graduate outcomes data explained

Let's talk about the rankings and ratings. This first set of numbers comes from the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching - the QILT data set. It's an Australian Government data set that comes from surveying hundreds of thousands of students as well as thousands of graduate employers. It's run by the government, so it's an independent data set you can really trust.

Student satisfaction at Macquarie sits at 76.4% on the most recent Student Experience Survey, part of the QILT data. It's a little bit below the national average for the sector - not terrible, but not outstanding. This is maybe not surprising for a large university with a big metropolitan population. Student satisfaction tends to be highest at smaller universities and campuses, or more residential campuses, where the sense of community is much stronger. It's not something to panic about, but it's something to be aware of.

Teaching quality is similar. Macquarie delivers solid, structured teaching, but the sheer scale of the place means your experience can vary depending on the faculty, the unit, and the lecturer. This is true of every large university. If you want to dive into the details, you can do that on the QILT Compared website or by jumping on the Choosing Your Uni platform.

Graduate employment is at 78.7%, meaning 78.7% of graduates are in full-time work within four months of completing their degree. That's roughly in line with the middle of the sector. It's not as high as the regional universities, where local workforce demand gets graduates straight into jobs - Southern Cross Uni sits above 91%, for example - but for a large metropolitan university, Macquarie is basically holding its own. The same can be said of graduate starting salaries at $70,000. Macquarie is competitive, sitting right on the national average and slightly ahead of some other comparable Sydney universities. The Macquarie Park location and the PACE placements are probably contributors here - graduates from fields like business, health, and IT are stepping into roles in the precincts where they've already been working.

Looking at the global rankings: Macquarie is 138th in the world on the QS ranking, making it 11th in Australia, and on the Times Higher Education ranking it's 166th globally, equal 10th in Australia. That puts it firmly in the top tier of Australian universities, right on the heels of the Group of Eight. These global rankings tend to weight things like academic research output, how much that research is cited by other researchers, and international reputation - so the big research-focused Group of Eight institutions tend to perform better on them. Macquarie's actual teaching and graduate experience is arguably stronger than those ranking positions suggest, and those positions are very good to begin with.

How Macquarie compares to UNSW, UTS, and Deakin

Let's finish up by talking about comparable institutions. For me, the first comparison is the University of New South Wales. It's a Group of Eight institution, it's ranked in the global top 20 on QS, and it carries more prestige on paper. But UNSW is in Kensington, so it's more inner city, it's denser, it's maybe a bit more intense, and the entry scores are higher. The campus experience is quite different. If you're a strong student weighing prestige against environment and employability programmes, this is a comparison you probably need to make for yourself. UNSW does very well on employability and is very strong for entrepreneurship programmes as well - so if you're interested in starting your own business or being part of a really dynamic, innovative business environment, UNSW is worth a look.

Another common comparison is UTS. UTS and Macquarie share some DNA in a few ways - both are younger than the Group of Eight universities, both have strong industry linkages, and both emphasise practical, career-connected learning. The big difference is that UTS is right in the heart of the city, and that gives the campus a completely different feel. UTS ranks slightly above Macquarie on QS, inside the top hundred at 96th globally. But if you want that same applied, career-first approach and prefer a city-centre location, UTS is the obvious comparison. Being located so close to Central Station also means that for some students, getting there will be easier than getting to Macquarie, even though Macquarie has the driverless metro, which is super fast and covers a significant portion of the city.

Let me throw you a curveball, particularly for students who might be moving away from home or coming from overseas. I'd look at Deakin University in Melbourne. Deakin occupies a similar position in the market - it's just outside the Group of Eight, strong on student satisfaction at 81%, big on employability and work-integrated learning, and building its research strengths strategically. It's also outside the centre of Melbourne, so it shares that suburban environment. If you're open to Melbourne and you're the kind of student who values a university focused on your experience rather than just prestige, I think Deakin is worth a look.

Audience questions: campus feel and double degrees

Rob: Macquarie has its own train station and a big shopping centre right there. Does it actually feel like a campus or more like a business park?

I can talk to this personally because the campus has changed a lot. The whole area has had this massive transformation in recent years. The new campus heart at the centre of Macquarie - with its central courtyard, library, and student spaces - genuinely feels like a dynamic, modern university. Even the shopping centre got a major facelift. It's not like it used to be when I went to uni at Macquarie many years ago, and having the metro there has really energised the entire area. If you're looking for the quintessential on-campus university experience in Sydney, Macquarie is one of the strongest offerings. It has a central campus and a great vibe throughout the day.

Rob: A question from a parent: is it better for my daughter to do a double degree, or just focus on one degree and do it really well?

Double degrees can be brilliant if the two areas complement one another - something like law and international studies, or IT and business. But if it's just about hedging bets, it might be better to do one degree and try to get great marks, and load up on work experience instead. I wouldn't do a double degree just for the sake of it if it means extra years of study and extra HECS debt.

That said, if there are two areas that you or your child are really interested in and keen on pursuing, a double degree across two very different subject areas can actually be an advantage. I'll give you a personal example. When I went through university, I did a science degree and ended up becoming interested in bird biology while working in one of the biology labs on campus. I was also studying some music at the same time. I discovered there was a whole world in airports where organisations were trying to use sound to discourage birds from being on the airfield - when a bird goes through a plane engine, it does a million dollars' worth of damage, so airports are pretty keen to solve that problem. One key approach at the time was through audio means. So having a double degree in biology and something related to audio production could have been an asset to get into that very niche area. That's the magic of two different double-degree topics that complement each other in unexpected ways.

When you walk out of uni with a science degree, you're the same as thousands of other graduates. With a double degree, you're a little bit more unique. With a double degree in two very different areas, you're more unique again. And the other differentiator is everything else you put around your university experience: Did you do the PACE programme? Did you get industry experience? Did you do a study abroad or exchange programme? Did you get involved in clubs and societies? Did you do leadership activities or entrepreneurship programmes? All the extra things you put around your studies are as important on a resume as the degree itself - and they're good fun, so get involved.

Wrapping up

That's all we've got time for in this session. Any questions that have come through will be answered in the Choosing Your Uni Discord and in the parent Facebook group. It's been lovely talking to you about Macquarie - a place very close to my heart, because that's where I did my degree some years ago. My name's Rob Malicki, and I'll see you later in the National Virtual Expo. Have yourself a great afternoon.