Sydney's major universities are languishing at the bottom of the pile for student satisfaction, with smaller private universities maintaining a healthy lead over their larger public rivals.

The University of NSW, Sydney University, the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University all ranked in the bottom 10 in the annual "student experience survey", to be released on Wednesday.

Satisfaction at Australia's oldest sandstone university, Sydney, slumped to below the national average. Credit:Peter Braig

For the first time, the federal education department will publish the full league tables showing how students felt about teaching, support and resources at their tertiary institutions.

It is part of a push by Education Minister Simon Birmingham for "greater transparency" about student sentiment - although the survey has been condemned as flawed and useless by critics.