Welcome and who this session is for

G'day, and welcome to the National Virtual Expo. My name is Rob Malicki, and welcome to this session on the University of the Sunshine Coast. I'm super pumped for this one because this is a really interesting institution. But before we get started, I'm on Google Lens today in Sydney, so acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land on which I live and work.

In the next 20 minutes, I'm going to be talking through a whole bunch of different stuff. But before I get to that: if you're joining me live, thank you for being here. You can ask any questions in the chat, whether you're on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, or on the session hub. Drop your questions in the chat and I'll try to get to them by the end of this session. If you're watching this on the replay, you can jump on the Choosing Your Uni Discord where you can ask all your questions, whether they're broad and general or specifically about you and the choice you're trying to make. All those questions in the chat and on Discord will absolutely get a response. For parents, we have a Facebook community as well. All the details for that are in the session description below.

So in the next 20 minutes, we're going to be talking about the University of the Sunshine Coast. We're going to be talking about who would be well-suited to studying there. We're going to hear from some students about what it's like to study at UniSC. We're also going to look at its academic strengths, and I'm going to show you the ratings and the rankings, so things like student satisfaction and graduate employment levels and graduate employment salaries. And we're going to get behind those figures, behind the marketing hype, to look at how those numbers are actually generated and whether or not they're actually relevant to you. My whole goal here is to help you build your shortlist of universities, so right at the end of this session I'm going to be telling you about other institutions that I would compare UniSC against if I were creating my university shortlist.

What makes UniSC genuinely distinctive

There is something unique about the University of the Sunshine Coast. It's the only university in Australia with campuses sitting across three interconnected UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, and it's right next to the World Heritage-listed Fraser Island. Now, that's not a marketing line. That's an actual scientific designation, and it actually shapes what the university teaches, what they research, and also what it feels like to study there.

Let me save you some time and think about who this institution might not be suited to. I'll be honest: this uni possibly isn't for you if what you really want is that bustling inner-city experience with 60,000 students and a huge range of opportunities. This is a university that has around 18,500 students spread across five regional campuses across the Sunshine Coast and surrounds. It's smaller, it's chilled out, it's quieter, and to be honest, it's deliberately so. I actually think that's one of the advantages that means it's going to really suit a certain type of student.

This uni might also not be for you if rankings and prestige are super important to you, because UniSC is a young university. It only started teaching in 1996, so it doesn't compete on those big global rankings the way that older research universities do. If that's a deal-breaker for you, you've got to know yourself, and that's fine. This may not be the institution for you.

However, if you're drawn to health, environmental science, sports science, or education, if you want practical experience baked into your degree from early on, and you want to live in a remarkable part of the world on Australia's Sunshine Coast, then this could absolutely be the institution for you.

What students say about studying at UniSC

Before I give you my take on everything, let's hear from a student who's actually studied at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

I love being able to walk around and literally recognise people. That's something I couldn't do when I first started my degree, I didn't know anyone. But over the semesters, as you meet people, as you hang out at the brasserie, get a bit of food, and say, "Hey, how's it going, can I sit here?" you start to recognise people. And it is that community vibe. So it's great to be able to meet people and make friends.

So that's one perspective, and of course everyone's experience at a university is going to be different. So if you've got specific questions about whether or not this institution might be the right one for you, drop them in the chat and I will absolutely get back to you.

Health sciences, sport, and the Thomson Institute

Let's talk about three things that UniSC is really known for. The first is that it's a health powerhouse for its size. Nursing, allied health, psychology, sport and exercise science, and even things like clinical trials -- health runs through almost everything this university does. The Thomson Institute is a dedicated neuroscience and mental health research facility, which is unusual for a university of this size. They have clinical placements and partnerships with Sunshine Coast University Hospital, as well as plenty of other regional health providers across the Sunny Coast, which means you as a student will get hands-on experience in real clinical settings as a core part of your degree.

If you're interested in getting into health, it's worth noting that a few years ago the Australian government actually cut the fees for studying health and education quite substantially, so these are now among the least expensive degrees, costing under $5,000 per year. You can find out all about Australian government support for university studies in the session description below.

The second standout is the lifestyle. Yes, this is an academic institution, but the Sunny Coast is just such an amazing place to live. The university sits between coastal ecosystems, hinterland forests, and those UNESCO Biosphere Reserves I mentioned. So for students studying environmental science, marine science, forestry, or conservation, this isn't just background scenery -- it's literally your classroom. The UNESCO Forest Research Institute works on really critical topics like sustainable timber, biosecurity, and conservation. The marine and coastal science programmes are absolutely awesome, using the local environment for fieldwork in ways that city universities could only dream about. That's a serious advantage.

Third, and this is not a small deal: it's a regional institution that's built for people who live and have grown up in the region. It has five campuses: the main campus at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay at Petrie, Caboolture, Fraser Coast at Hervey Bay, and Gympie. That multi-campus network means you can probably study closer to home without having to move down to Brisbane. It also means that if you're an international student or moving from elsewhere in Australia, you've got quite a bit of choice about what kind of place you want to live in.

A lot of students at UniSC are first in family, or studying part time, or balancing study with work and family, and these campuses are designed around that reality. They're compact, walkable, and modern, with small class sizes in general, which means you're going to have a more intimate experience, be closer to your academics, and that has some serious advantages.

Academic schools, degrees, and work-integrated learning

Let's talk about the academic and research strengths of UniSC. The university has five academic schools: Business and Creative Industries; Education and Tertiary Access; Health; Law and Society; and Science, Technology and Engineering. Across those schools there are more than 120 undergraduate or combined degrees. Most bachelor degrees are three years long, which is standard in Australia, though some professional subjects like engineering, social work, and certain health fields run longer.

Where does this university punch above its weight? Let's start with health and sports science, which are the headline acts. The School of Health covers nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, nutrition, counselling, social work, and sport and exercise science. The high-performance sport precinct on the Sunshine Coast is genuinely impressive. It's home to the Sunshine Coast Lightning netball team and features an Olympic-standard 50-metre pool, a 25-metre pool, recovery facilities, and an athletics track. So if you're serious about sport science, or you're an elite athlete interested in combining study with high-performance training, this is literally one of the better set-ups in the country. Interestingly, a lot of those set-ups are in south-east Queensland. Griffith University is extremely strong, Bond has a great footprint, and so does the University of Queensland. UniSC sits amongst them.

The Thomson Institute is the university's flagship research facility for mental health and neuroscience. They're running projects on mental health, suicide prevention, and brain-based interventions, which for a university of this size represents a significant commitment. They run clinical trials facilities on both the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay campuses covering pharmaceutical and medical device trials, and that gives research students real exposure to how clinical research works in practice.

Environmental and marine science is another standout area. Research covers coastal ecosystems, climate impacts, conservation, and biosphere reserve management. If you're interested in environmental science issues, you might also want to check out the keynote from Maggie Massey, a science communicator talking about building your dream career in the sciences, and the fascinating session with Ben Parrot about how he transitioned into ecology in his mid-20s.

A related area -- somewhat sideways from pure science and environment -- is forestry and agriculture. These are areas you won't find at most Australian universities. The University's Forest Research Institute does significant work on sustainable plantation forestry, timber quality, biosecurity, and aquaculture. These are niche areas, but the job demand is seriously real and the competition for graduates is thin. If you're interested in the environment space but want areas where employability is high, forestry and agriculture is a really good one to investigate.

On the teaching side, work-integrated learning is embedded across a lot of programmes -- internships, practicums, clinical placements, field education, and industry projects are threaded through many degrees from early on. It's not something the university just bolts on at the end. Nursing students go to hospitals, law students work in community legal centres, and business students do industry placements with local employers.

Pathways, access, and the Moreton Bay campus

If you're first in family, or you didn't get the ATAR you were hoping for, or you're worried about that, the university has a really fantastic pathway set-up enabling students from all sorts of backgrounds to get into uni. You don't need a 98 ATAR to get into this institution. And as a general comment, the idea that you just have to get in on your ATAR simply isn't true. Universities have structured pathways, whether that's coming through vocational education, going through a college preparatory programme, or taking some time off and then coming back as a mature-age student. Essentially, if you've got a gap of a year or more after finishing school, you're considered mature-age. So everyone from 18 and 19-year-olds right through to 50 can be considered a mature student. UniSC is really focused on creating options for students from across the regions to come in and study.

One thing worth noting is that the Moreton Bay campus at Petrie is relatively new. It only opened in 2020 and is designated as a university hub for the fast-growing northern Brisbane corridor, with a lot of new development popping up there. So if you want to live in that booming region and don't want to commute to Brisbane every day, this campus genuinely changes the equation.

A second student perspective on the UniSC experience

Let's take a pause and hear from another student about their experience studying at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

The university's national performance numbers tell an interesting story, and there's one satisfaction figure that puts them above almost every single one of the Group of Eight universities. The Go8 is the coalition of Australia's leading research-intensive institutions -- the most prestigious in Australia, sometimes called the sandstones: places like the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, and the University of New South Wales. And yet on this particular metric, UniSC outperforms them.

Student satisfaction and graduate employment data

All the data I'm about to show you comes from a couple of different sources. The first is the QILT dataset, the Australian Government's national survey of students and employers, where hundreds of thousands of students respond, so the data is really reliable and it's independent. We've also got data from the world rankings, from SHS Global Rankings, and from the Times Higher Education Group.

So what does it all say? UniSC's overall student satisfaction ranks impressively at 81.4%, meaning more than 4 in 5 students are completely satisfied with their experience. That comes from the QILT data and it's really strong on a national level. For context, it's higher than every single Group of Eight university. The University of Melbourne, typically the number one institution on a global scale, only gets 73.8% satisfaction. Sydney gets 71.7%, Monash 73%. So UniSC sits amongst the top tier nationally on student satisfaction. What drives that is small class sizes, accessibility to academics, and a campus feel that doesn't feel large and overwhelming. Students feel seen and connected to the community, and that really counts. Teaching quality numbers follow a similar pattern, and regional universities often outperform the bigger institutions on that measure. UniSC is no exception. Compare that to someone sitting in a lecture hall with 500 or 800 people feeling overwhelmed and not getting personal support -- of course that's a harder environment than somewhere with smaller class sizes and better access to your academics.

Now let's talk about graduate employment, because for most people, you're going to uni and at the end you're hoping for a job. UniSC has 78.2% of its graduates finishing their degree and within four months having full-time employment. That's a really solid number and it's roughly in line with the national average. In health, education, and STEM, UniSC graduates tend to do particularly well because of that regional employment aspect -- there is high demand for teachers, nurses, engineers, and the like in south-east Queensland.

When it comes to starting salaries, the median starting salary for UniSC graduates is $70,000. That's competitive -- it's much higher than the University of Melbourne at $65,000 and higher than RMIT at around $67,000. So it's basically on par with or even better than some of the large metropolitan universities. Why? Because the mix of students at UniSC tends to skew towards professional degrees in applied sciences, health, and education, where starting salaries are solid and demand for jobs is also really good.

Global rankings in context

Interestingly, UniSC doesn't appear in the main ranking numbers on the major rankings like SHS or the Times Higher Ed. It sits between 500 and 600 in the Times Higher Education rankings, which in Australia puts it in the low to mid 30s out of 40 universities -- so roughly between 30th and 35th.

People might be worried about that number and say, "Oh, it's one of the worst-ranking institutions." But honestly, for a university that's only existed since 1996 and is heavily focused on its region, I don't think that's of particular concern. Rankings heavily favour institutions that have a huge research output or that have international reputations built over many decades. Now, that might matter to you. You might be looking for a prestigious institution turning out cutting-edge research across all of its academic areas, and if so, I'd honestly be looking at the University of Queensland, an amazing university just a couple of hours down the road in Brisbane. The experience at the University of the Sunshine Coast is going to be very different. What that global number doesn't tell you is about the classroom experience. It doesn't tell you what your Tuesday morning tutorial will feel like, or whether you'll get a job. Personally, I'm not as worried about those numbers as other people might be.

If you want to compare every institution you're interested in across different fields of study, you can do that on the Choosing Your Uni platform. We deliberately built a super easy platform to use. You can go in and say, "Tell me about the University of the Sunshine Coast for these particular academic areas," and you'll get results configured around your interests, preferences, and goals -- not just who has the most marketing dollars. It's really worth jumping on there and checking it out. It's free and takes about 30 seconds to sign up.

Comparing UniSC: Griffith, James Cook, Southern Cross, and UNE

Now let me jump into what institutions I would consider alongside UniSC if I were trying to make my decision about where to study. The most obvious comparison is a geographical one. For me, Griffith University is probably the closest match in that Sunshine Coast-Gold Coast-Brisbane geographical area. Griffith's Gold Coast campus has a similar feel in terms of coastal location, but it's bigger, it ranks higher globally, and it has a wider range of programmes on offer. It also has much larger class sizes, and people might find they need to be a bit more proactive at Griffith to get what they need. So if you're choosing between UniSC and Griffith, the question is really about scale and setting: do you want a bigger institution with more options, or a smaller one where you're more likely to be known by lecturers by name? We've got a full session on Griffith University's profile -- you'll find it in the session catalogue.

Next, James Cook University. JCU is further up the coast in northern Queensland, with presences in Townsville and Cairns, but like UniSC it's strong for environment, health, science, and marine-related disciplines. It has a similarly strong graduate employment rate -- actually one of the highest in the country. So if what draws you to UniSC is some of those discipline areas but you're open to location, JCU is absolutely worth putting on the list.

Another institution worth considering if you're looking for that coastal experience is Southern Cross University -- acknowledging that they are the major sponsor of this event, but genuinely worth mentioning regardless. Southern Cross University has presences in northern New South Wales and right down in Coolangatta next to the airport and Kirra Beach. It also has really good strengths in health, environment, and marine. So if you're looking for those disciplines but also want an institution that's close to the coast with a different kind of lifestyle footprint, Southern Cross is definitely worth a look.

Finally, and I'll throw in a fairly surprising one here: if you're thinking about studying in a regional area -- perhaps coming from overseas or looking to move to a region and you're not fussed about being on the coast -- then the University of New England in Armidale is one of Australia's most interesting options at the moment. It's in a regional area but shares UniSC's focus on small communities, practical degrees, and serving students who might not want to move into a big city. Student satisfaction and graduate employment numbers are both excellent. It's a very different location -- you're in the inland agricultural heart of Australia -- but the philosophy about studying there is fairly similar: lots of people living on campus and a very chilled vibe. It's a comparison most people wouldn't think of, but I think it's actually worth having a look at. And of course, you've got sessions on all of these as part of the National Virtual Expo. Details are below.

Listener questions: employer recognition and getting started on a second choice

I now have a couple of minutes for questions. Let me start with some that came in advance.

The first question: "Sippy Downs campus is beautiful, but it's on the Sunshine Coast. Will employers in Brisbane or further afield still take my degree seriously?"

Absolutely. Every university in Australia has incredible strengths, and the overall level of education in Australia is really high. What's important to realise is that no matter where you study, your degree on a national level has been recognised and has passed a minimum standard. So depending on what degree you're doing and what job you're looking to get into, the most important thing is having a degree from a good Australian university, and UniSC is absolutely one of those. Behind that, the most important thing is everything else you get involved with outside the classroom -- sport clubs and societies, leadership opportunities like student representative councils or debating, international study experience, and working casually or part time. Here's a tip: go and try to get a job on campus. Uni jobs pay incredibly well, and it's an amazing addition to your resume. It also lets you work alongside some of the people who might be teaching you. So if you're a science student, investigate volunteering in one of the environmental science or clinical laboratories -- they always need volunteers, and that volunteer work can turn into paid work, which is an amazing thing.

One more quick question, a more general one: "I've got into my second choice, not my first. Should I accept it or wait and reapply?"

In most cases, you're better off to get started, to take that second choice and then look to transfer internally. You're already getting runs on the board. You're already able to take some of the same first-year classes you would otherwise be taking as part of the other degree. Once you're taking those classes, you can look to transfer internally, and even to transfer to a completely different university if that's what you'd originally wanted. It's not a barrier. It's an opportunity -- an opportunity to try something you might not have expected. Maybe you actually discover the thing that lights you up as part of that second choice.

I'm out of time. The questions have come in and I'll be answering those in the Discord, so make sure you jump across. That's also free -- ask anything you want and you'll absolutely get a personal reply. Thank you for joining me on this session on the University of the Sunshine Coast. It's a fantastic option, and I'll see you in one of the other sessions at the National Virtual Expo. Have a great day.