Summary Report from the 2025 Uni Student Wellbeing Survey
This report presents key findings from the 2025 Uni Student Wellbeing (USW) Survey of undergraduate students across six Australian universities. Drawing on 11,391 complete responses, it examines students’ psychological distress and wellbeing alongside their academic experiences, perceptions of institutional climate, academic engagement, and course satisfaction. The 2025 Survey builds on the 2023-2024 (Year 1) study at 11 universities and extends the national evidence base on student mental health and wellbeing. Download a copy of the report here.
If your institution is interested in participating in the Survey, please contact the project manager Dr Tracii Ryan (tracii.ryan@unimelb.edu.au).
Uni Student Wellbeing Survey – 2025 Data Collection Update
Six additional Australian universities implemented the Uni Student Wellbeing (USW) Survey in 2025 (Year 2 of the project), spanning metropolitan and regional areas across five states and territories. These contributed a further 11,391 undergraduate respondents to our dataset. Individual reports have been prepared for each 2025 participating institution, and we are now finalising the 2025 annual summary report which will present key findings from the latest round of data collection (see the Year 1 Summary report here).
Since the project began in late 2023, the USW Survey has collected complete survey responses from 19,277 undergraduate students across 17 Australian universities. Data analysis has been conducted in partnership with the Melbourne Institute.
For 2026 we have funding to recruit a further five institutions, bringing the project total to 22 universities (around half of all Australian universities). If your institution is interested in participating in the USW survey, please contact the project manager, Dr Tracii Ryan, at tracii.ryan@unimelb.edu.au.
Summary Report from the 2024 Uni Student Wellbeing Survey
The Uni Student Wellbeing Survey was administered at 11 Australian universities in Year 1 (2023-2024) of this three-year project. The project team has produced a summary report of the Year 1 data (download a copy of the report here), which contains key findings from eight universities with sufficient response rates (i.e., >1%). From a total of 10,048 undergraduate students who participated in the Survey at these eight institutions, 7,725 provided a complete response and were included in the analyses.
In 2025, we are aiming to administer the Survey at another 11 universities. If your institution is interested in participating in the Survey, please contact the project manager Dr Tracii Ryan (tracii.ryan@unimelb.edu.au).
Uni Student Wellbeing Survey – 2024 Data Collection Update
As of the end of 2024, the USW Survey has been implemented at 11 universities across six states and territories. This surpasses our initial target of eight universities in Year 1 of this three-year project. Both metropolitan and regional universities participated, with two conducting pilot surveys in late 2023 and another nine administering the final version of the Survey in 2024.
Overall, data have been collected from 7,886 undergraduate students and analysed with the assistance of research fellows at the Melbourne Institute. We have distributed individual reports to all participating universities and are currently preparing a comprehensive 2023/2024 annual report which will provide a summary of our findings from the Year 1 surveys.
In 2025, we plan to administer the Survey at another 11 universities. If your institution is interested in participating in the Survey, please contact the project manager Dr Tracii Ryan (tracii.ryan@unimelb.edu.au).
Students’ Sense of Belonging at University Study
This qualitative study exploring how and when undergraduate students form a sense of belonging at university has successfully completed its data collection phase. Between 2023-2024, our research team conducted individual interviews and focus groups with 200 students from 23 different Australian universities, located in six states and territories. Of these participants, 26% were the first in family to attend university and 18% were international students. Thematic analysis of this rich dataset has commenced and will continue in 2025.
Value of Higher Education Study
After a global search in 2023, Mariyam Nazviya from The Maldives was selected as a PhD candidate for this project. Mariyam commenced her candidature in January 2024 and has currently completed a scoping literature review of the literature on this topic. In 2025, she will collect data from in-depth interviews with between 40-60 diverse undergraduate students from at least three Australian universities.