At the beginning of semester 2, 1997 the Faculty conducted a survey of its first year students (n=792) using an adaptation of the First Year Experience Questionnaire of McInnis and James. The aims were to obtain baseline data on the demographics and attitudes and perceptions of first year students. A similar survey was subsequently performed in 1998 and 1999.

In this paper we report on factors that are related to student satisfaction with their university experience. Student satisfaction has been studied a great deal over the years because it is an important outcome in its own right, but also because of its relationship with student performance and student persistence. Furthermore, there is increasing pressure on accountability, increasing competition between universities, and a trend towards the linking of some funding, amongst other things, to student satisfaction with course experiences. A host of factors have been reported in the literature to impact on student satisfaction and this study aims to identify the factors relevant to student satisfaction in this Faculty. The Faculty has eleven major undergraduate courses, most of which lead to accredited health professional qualifications and well defined career prospects. It was felt, therefore, that students in this Faculty could have different expectations about university to students enrolled in more generalist courses