The Course Experience Questionnaire, Graduate Destination Survey, and Learning and Teaching Performance Fund in Australia

Abstract

The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and Graduate Destinations Survey (GDS) are instruments jointly administered as part of an annual national population survey of the graduates of all Australian universities. The survey instruments are designed to measure and quantify some of the important outcomes of Australian higher education, such as graduate satisfaction with courses, employment rates and commencing salaries. The data are analysed by an independent agency and reported by institution and by field of study. The survey's findings, in particular the comparative potential across institutions, are of interest to government policy-makers, institutional management and prospective students and are used for, among other things, quality assurance, information for prospective students and, most recently, performance-based incentive funding. During 2005, data from the CEQ and GDS were used for the first time as performance indicators for a strategic national Learning and Teaching Performance Fund (LTPF) administered by the federal Department of Education, Science and Training. This paper examines the background to the implementation of the CEQ and GDS, the goals, the uses for the data, including the LTPF and some of the criticism of this development, and the apparent influence on policy and practice within a higher education system that has developed a stronger market orientation and increasingly sought quantitative performance indicators.