Central Queensland University has maintained its top, 5-star national ratings for 'positive graduate outcomes' and 'graduate starting salary' in the 2008 edition of 'The Good Universities Guide', released this week.

CQU also retained top 5-star ratings for:

 'cultural diversity',

'international enrolments',

'proportion given credit for TAFE studies', and

'non-government earnings'.

The Guide's own publicity cites CQU as among those Queensland universities with top, 5-star ratings in the new category of 'access by equity groups', providing "excellent access to higher education, well above the national average, for disadvantaged students in regional Queensland".

CQU also gained 4-star, above-average, ratings for teaching quality and 'getting a job'.

The Guide profiles CQU as:

'big' in terms of the number of higher education students,

as 'high' in terms of the proportion of students over 25 years,

as 'very big' in terms of the number of students from abroad,

as 'high' in terms of the proportion of part-time students,

as 'high' in terms of the proportion of external students.

As in previous years, The Guide sums up CQU as an "exceptionally diverse, not to mention vast institution ... it is less complacement, more energetic, more flexible and more welcoming than many".