Six of the 16 universities that scored above the average 80 per cent in a newly released Australian university satisfaction survey were in Queensland.

The private Bond University on the Gold Coast had the highest student satisfaction rating at 90.8 per cent, while Griffith University was the second highest-rating public institution at 84.2 per cent, according to data released by the federal Department of Education.

Griffith University student president Lucas Kennedy said support for the university's students helped the institution stand out.

"Because it's primarily more of a working-class university, a lot of our students are the first in their family to come to university," he said.

"The staff are very capable in providing assistance for students in that situation."

Mr Kennedy said learning support had been good in previous years, and there were various "very successful" programs to help students from lower socio-economic backgrounds cope with university life as well as programs for the student population more broadly.

At Bond University, vice-chancellor and president Tim Brailsford said the institution was humbled students had ranked it so highly.

"We talk at Bond about transforming our students' lives and it is pleasing that our students recognise what we do and the impact it has on them and their career journey," Professor Brailsford said.

The student satisfaction ranking came as the University of the Sunshine Coast announces a new campus at Moreton Bay.

USC, the third-highest Queensland institution for student satisfaction, opens a Petrie campus on a former paper mill site in 2020.

The new campus would mean a much shorter commute for tertiary students in the Moreton Bay region, according to mayor Allan Sutherland.

"Currently 90 per cent of tertiary students from the Moreton Bay region spend around three hours travelling to and from their higher education facility in either Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast," he said.

USC vice-chancellor Greg Hill said the new campus would offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs including science, law, business and engineering.

In the survey, USC received a student satisfaction rating of 83.8 per cent.

The data, based on responses from more than 178,000 students across Australian universities and published on the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching website, would help inform students' tertiary decisions, Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham said.

However Mr Kennedy said the research would not have a great impact on the decisions of students.

"Most students in year 12 depending on their school ... are fairly informed as to what their options are," he said.