UQ a class act

The University of Queensland has again been recognised as one of the best teaching institutions in the nation.

Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop today announced the 2007 round of the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund with UQ receiving the second highest amount of all universities in the nation.

Allocation of the $83 million in funding is based on government data that ranks the quality of learning and teaching at Australia’s 38 publicly-funded universities.

UQ received $8.05 million, the University of Melbourne $8.9 million, the University of New South Wales $6.65 million, the University of Sydney $6.287 million and the University of Technology Sydney $5.555 million.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC, said the funding reflected the University’s commitment to providing its students with leading educators, facilities and courses.

He said UQ received more than five times the amount of all other Queensland universities combined to cement its standing as the leading teaching and learning university in the state.

“It is a great pleasure to see our high-quality teaching endeavours recognised,” Professor Hay said.

Professor Hay said UQ was one of only two universities nationally to have performed well across all four teaching bands – science, computing, engineering, architecture and agriculture; business, law and economics; humanities, arts and education; and health.

“It is a tradition at UQ to deliver an outstanding learning experience to undergraduate and postgraduate students,” he said.

“UQ was the first university in Australia to introduce a scheme rewarding teaching excellence and UQ has been the recipient of far more national awards for university teaching than any other Australian university, since the awards began nine years ago.”

Seven separate indicators of learning and teaching quality were used to allocate the funding including: graduates` views of the enhancement of their generic skills, of teaching quality and of their overall satisfaction with their university program; the percentage of graduates in full-time employment; those continuing to further full-time study; drop-out rates; and pass rates.

Media inquiries: Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications (07 3365 2802 or 0433 364 181).