Two of Sydney's most prestigious universities have the state's most dissatisfied students, a survey of 145,000 Australian university students has found.

The University of Sydney and the University of NSW both came in behind the Western Sydney University, Charles Sturt University and the University of Tasmania on student satisfaction, according to the federal government's quality indicators for learning and teaching data, released on Tuesday.

The universities, which have operating revenues twice the size of the University of Notre Dame, were nonetheless out performed by the relatively small institution on almost every measure including teacher quality, engagement, student support and skills.

Overall, 11 per cent fewer students at both big universities were satisfied with their education than those at Notre Dame, where more than 88 per cent of students said they were satisfied with their university.