In 2011, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) commissioned a Consortium led by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and including the University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) and the Griffith Institute for Higher Education (GIHE) to develop an instrument and methodology for a new national survey of the experience of university students--the University Experience Survey (UES). The UES is one of a number of initiatives being developed by the Australian Government to help ensure the ongoing improvement in the quality of teaching and learning in Australian universities. The project brief required the Consortium to develop an instrument and method for allocating performance-based funds for continuous quality improvement. Other possible secondary uses for UES data such as public reporting were proposed during the development of the UES. The survey instrument and methods were developed between April and November 2011, anticipating that the UES would be conducted annually with first- and final-year undergraduate students in Australian Table A Universities from 2012 onwards. The UES Development Report includes information on the design, production and validation of the survey instrument, methodology and reporting. Government policy changes in November 2011 which discontinued earlier plans for performance-based funding for teaching and learning necessarily stimulated fresh interest in investigating potential uses for UES data. While the nationally developed UES may have the potential to be used for a range of reasons, further instrument development would be required to ensure that the UES collects valid data and delivers relevant results. A number of recommendations for the future UES have been formed by the Consortium, building on design, technical development and extensive consultation with the sector: (1) Focus areas of the UES; (2) Baseline version of the University Experience Questionnaire (UEQ); (3) Population definition; (4) Student selection strategy; (5) Mode of survey delivery; (6) Administration approach; (7) Fieldwork timing; (8) Target response rate; (9) Protocols and standards for data use; and (10) Further development of the UES. Appended are: (1) Delivered University Experience Questionnaire (UEQ); (2) Report on findings from secondary sources of information; (3) Independent review of the University Experience Survey; (4) University Experience Questionnaire psychometric analyses; (5) Key findings for key analysis groups; (6) University Experience Survey Project Advisory Group (UES PAG) composition and Terms of Reference; (7) UES Consortium Terms of Reference for "development of a University Experience Survey measuring dimensions of higher education students' university experience"; and (8) UES Design Consultation Paper. (Contains 13 figures, 33 tables, and 1 footnote.)