Wollongong's new five-star rating for research highlights outstanding result in Good Universities Guide

Aug 03, 2004

The stars are certainly shining brightly for the University of Wollongong this week. First the announcement yesterday by Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson that UOW is to start a graduate school of medicine in 2006 and now the pending release of the 2005 Good Universities Guide to newsagents and bookshops around the country will reveal UOW's outstanding star rating compared to other universities.

In the three key performance-based indicators in the Guide (ie the categories of "Status and Standing", "The Educational Experience" and "Graduate Outcomes", Wollongong has increased its star ratings from 45 to 49 out of a possible 55 stars placing the University only one star behind one of the larger metropolitan-based universities, the University of Sydney. These three categories contain 11 sections each carrying a possible maximum of five stars.

For the past five successive years, UOW has topped the country for the most stars in the latter two categories (mentioned above) - "The educational experience" and "Graduate Outcomes". These categories involve how the graduates rate their experience at a university and how the graduates fare in actually getting a job and their starting salaries.

And now UOW has added the new five star rating for research intensity (from the "Status and Standing" category) to its list of achievements in the Guide. UOW's five-star rating for research intensity (up from previous four stars) sees it join an elite group of just eight universities at the top of the rankings in this important category.

To further reinforce the improvement in UOW's research ranking it has gone from three stars to four stars in "Research Grants" - a major achievement considering the University has yet to establish its medical school which traditionally are a major source of research grants in Australia.

The recent announcement of a medical school for UOW is further recognition of its prestige and will provide impetus to its status.

For further information contact the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Operations), Professor John Patterson on 4221 3940.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128