#1
65.2%
Meets Standards Leads the sector for the first time
Independent mystery shopping · Updated quarterly
Australian Education Providers Call Centre Rankings
Which education providers win the student on the phone?
Prospective students compare institutions that publish much the same information. What separates them is the phone call.
Every month, our mystery shoppers call Australia's education providers as prospective students enquiring about new courses. Nobody is told when we're calling.
Real calls, not surveysScored on 48+ measuresPublished quarterly
Leaderboard · Q3 2026
Which providers give prospective students the best call?
Ranked on Overall CX, which combines how easily callers get through with how well the conversation goes.
2nd
59.3%
Below Standard Up from fifth to second
Accessibility71.5%
Agent Mastery54.1%
3rd
56.9%
Below Standard A second consecutive gain, with no phone menu at all
Accessibility79.0%
Agent Mastery52.2%
●●.●%
Lowest-ranked provider
Who finished last this quarter?
Free subscribers see the lowest-ranked provider, plus the weakest result on every measure in the report.
Where the leaders sit on the Contact Centre CX Standards
Every score falls into one of five bands. The education average sits in Below Standard, just below the all-industry average.
Poor · below 45%Below StandardMeetsExceedsOutstanding56.9%59.3%65.2%Education average 56.4%All-industry 59.0%
56.9%59.3%65.2%Education average 56.4%All-industry 59.0%Q3 2026 is the average of July, August and September. Shows a selection of the education providers we benchmark, not every provider in the sector.
Contact Centre CX Quadrant
Easy to reach, or good on the call? The best are both.
The quadrant plots how easily a caller reaches a person (up) against how well the conversation is handled (across). The Best Practice corner needs 80% or more on both.
| Overall CX | |
| Accessibility | |
| Agent Mastery |
Hover over or tap a number, or a row in the list, to see the scores.
Top three
- 165.2% Access 86.3% · Mastery 56.2%
- 259.3% Access 71.5% · Mastery 54.1%
- 356.9% Access 79.0% · Mastery 52.2%
Lowest three
- 4Free with a subscription
- 5Free with a subscription
- 6Free with a subscription
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The full report goes provider by provider through what moved, and why.
- A scorecard of every headline measure
- Provider-by-provider stories
- Where callers are lost, minute by minute
- What unanswered enquiry calls could be costing you
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Q4 2026 report
October to December results are being assessed now.
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Q2 2026, Q1 2026 and Q4 2025 reports
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Against every sector we benchmark
Education ranks equal 5th of the 7 sectors we benchmark
Internet67.2%
Energy61.1%
Car Insurance61.0%
Councils60.2%
Education56.4%
Aged Care56.4%
Banks52.3%
All-industry 59.0%
Quick to answer, weaker on the conversation
Education finished equal fifth with aged care, 2.6 points below the all-industry average of 59.0%.
Callers reach a person faster than in any sector except internet, but education has the lowest Agent Mastery of any sector.
Compare all sectors →Where callers are lost
How long does it take a prospective student to reach a person?
Phone menu, recorded messages and the queue, from the moment the call connects.
FastestTAFE SA
0:46
Sector averageEducation providers
1:28
Slowest
Phone menuRecorded messagesWaiting for an agent
Includes calls that weren't answered, which count up to the ten-minute limit. Each part is averaged separately, so totals can differ by a second.
0:40Average wait in the queue, the biggest part of the journey
94.4%of calls answered within ten minutes, ▲ 1.8 pts on Q2
1.2phone menu layers on average before reaching the queue
How we measure
No surveys. No spin. Just real calls.
Our Australian-based mystery shoppers call as genuine prospective students, enquiring about a new course before they enrol.
Calls are placed on different days and at different times, without a student number, so we measure what any member of the public gets.
Current-student and existing-enrolment calls go to different teams, so they sit outside these rankings.
How a mystery-shop call works
Five moments we measure on every call
- 1
We call
A mystery shopper calls as a prospective student asking about a course, on a random day and time.
- 2
The phone menu
We time the menu and recorded messages, and count the layers before the queue.
- 3
The queue
We time the wait until a real person answers, up to a ten-minute limit.
- 4
The conversation
The agent is scored on Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Impact.
- 5
The score
Every call is rated against the Contact Centre CX Standards, then averaged each quarter.
Measure 1
Accessibility
How easily a caller reaches a real person: the phone menu, how clear the options are, the wait, and whether the call is answered at all.
Measure 2
Agent Mastery
How well the conversation is handled once someone answers, across five competencies: Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Impact.
The headline score
Overall CX
Both measures combined, with penalties when a call breaks down badly, so a serious failure can't be averaged away.
30% Access70% Agent Mastery
The five bands
- Outstanding 91% and above
- Exceeds Standards 76–90%
- Meets Standards 61–75%
- Below Standard 45–60%
- Poor below 45%
How we keep it fair: selection, scoring and sample
A cross-section, not a census
We benchmark a blend of state TAFEs and independent institutes, reflecting the range of experiences prospective students have when they call.
The list grows over time, so a quarter's selection isn't a judgement on who matters in Australian education.
No provider can influence its result
Providers aren't told when we call. Every one is scored the same way and published exactly as measured.
A score can't be bought, adjusted on request, or withdrawn.
One standard for every call
Every call is scored against the ACXPA Contact Centre CX Standards.
The same scorecard is used in every sector, every month.
A consistent sample, by design
This isn't a high-volume audit. We assess a consistent sample of calls to each provider every month.
Prospective students judge a provider on the call they made. A steady monthly sample shows whether that experience holds.
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- Lowest-ranked provider
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Where to from here?
Two ways to go further
How would your enquiry line score against TAFE SA?
The rankings show a selection of the market. Benchmarking calls your own enquiry line the same way, and scores it on the same standard.
- Measured on 48+ CX and operational measures
- Compared against five competitors you choose
- A results pack showing where you lead or lag
- A one-hour expert workshop on the findings
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Other sectors
How do other sectors answer the phone?
The same calls, the same scorecard and the same standard, across every sector we benchmark.
Call Centre RankingsAged CareView rankings →Call Centre RankingsBanksView rankings →Call Centre RankingsCar InsuranceView rankings →Call Centre RankingsCouncilsView rankings →Call Centre RankingsEnergy RetailersView rankings →Call Centre RankingsInternet RetailersView rankings →Not listed?Want your sector benchmarked?Add your sector →
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