The University of Canberra has scored top marks in The Good Universities Guide 2009 edition for its graduates' ability to get a job, but been given the lowest rating for graduate satisfaction and teaching quality.
The Australian National University in Canberra received the maximum five stars in seven categories, including graduate satisfaction, graduate starting salary and ''toughness to get in''.
However, the ANU received the lowest-ranking one star for ''entry flexibility''.
ANU vice-chancellor Professor Ian Chubb said the guide was not the ultimate measure of an institution. ''The Good Universities Guide is not really about the quality of the work you do, it's about providing information to people who might become your students ... It's information they should factor in, along with a lot of information when they're making their choice,'' he said.
The University of Canberra received five out of five stars for graduates' ability to get a job and graduates having a positive outcome. Its entry flexibility also received five stars. UC received four stars for graduate starting salary, slipping one star from last year.
UC vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Parker said, ''We're really pleased that we still deliver good outcomes for students and that's our mission''.
But Professor Parker said there were improvements to be made, with UC getting one star each for teaching quality, graduate satisfaction and staff qualifications.
The 2009 guide contained data back to graduates from 2006 and Professor Parker was determined to change current students' ratings of their experience at UC.
''I do want to improve it but if your graduates are doing well, then that's the hallmark,'' he said.
Professor Chubb said since data was provided to the publishers of the latest guide, the ANU had introduced more ways for students to gain entry, including associate degrees and a separate admissions test for those who had not performed well in the standard University Admissions Index score.
Ultimately, the ANU's admissions policy had to be fair and ''logistically feasible''.
''Is it fair to say to somebody, 'Well you might have got an 80 [UAI] but we're not letting you in because we're keeping a subset of our places for people who got 70 and whom we interviewed'? We admit roughly 2300 students a year. To interview them all would be impossible,'' he said.
Professor Chubb suggested five stars for ''toughness to get in'' was not a bad thing because there was cachet attached to an institution that was difficult to break into.
The ANU scored three out of five stars for graduates ''getting a job''. Professor Chubb said that didn't reflect that many went on to further study.
''Very few of our students are unemployed in the April after they've graduated or not doing what they want to do,'' he said.
The ANU scored three stars for gender balance; UC received two stars.
Professor Chubb said, ''The gender equity issue is another issue for the ANU and it always has been. It relates to all sorts of complex issues, not least of which we are so heavily science-dominated''.
Policies were in place to change that but they wouldn't produce results ''overnight''.
Australian Catholic University, which has a campus in Canberra, scored five stars for indigenous participation. It also scored four stars for getting a job and positive graduate outcomes, and three stars for graduate starting salary.
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