Top of the jobs

University of Sydney graduates are more employable than those from Oxford, Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to a report by British higher education think tank, QS. 

The University of Sydney placed fourth worldwide, behind Stanford, California and Harvard universities in the latest QS Graduate Employability Ranking. It also topped the list of Australian universities for the third successive year.

The University of Melbourne ranked seventh, followed by the University of NSW at 36, the University of Queensland at 49 and the University of Technology Sydney at 69. In all, there are eight Australian universities in the top 100.

The ranking, says University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence, “is testament to our exceptionally designed courses delivered by world-class teachers.

“The rankings confirm our graduates continue to be the most sought-after by employers in Australia and in high demand worldwide.”

The QS Graduate Employability Ranking was launched in 2015 as an alternative ranking to traditional measures like research strength and academic reputation.

Instead, universities are assessed against five criteria: employer reputation, alumni outcomes, partnerships with employers, employer/student connections and graduate employment rate.

Ben Sowter, the head of research at QS says the key point the list makes is that “employability is about more than prestige and selectivity.” Universities who focused on achieving strong graduate outcomes scored well, regardless of their reputation.

Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson

“The list rewards proactivity, and it rewards those that foreground employability as a crucial element of their strategy,” he says.

In determining this year’s top 500 rankings, the company assessed 600 universities (twice the amount of last year) and more than 30,000 employers. It also mapped the careers of 21,000 individuals worldwide. 

“Workplaces of the 21st century are under rapid change with technological advancements and an increasingly globalised workforce. The skills our graduates require to excel in such a workplace are likewise evolving,” says Dr Spence.

“Every University of Sydney student has the opportunity to take on real-world industry, community, research and entrepreneurship projects,” he says.

Australian universities are having a stellar year. Five Australian universities were placed in the top 50 of this year’s QS World University Ranking and The Times Higher Education World Rankings named six Australian universities in its top 100. 

QS’s Ben Sowter says, “Australia’s higher education sector, in general, appears to be one of the most upwardly-mobile ones, and the performance of its leading universities in this ranking would appear to corroborate that.”

The results fly in the face of the Turnbull government’s proposed higher education funding cuts announced in May and currently being debated in Parliament. Under the proposal, universities in NSW would lose $341.5 million in funding over the next four years and those in Victoria $294 million.

Melbourne University is ranked seventh in the world. Image: Donaldytong

Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson says that while Australia’s performance remained strong compared with other nations, “there is a bitter irony in these results being published as a further $2.8 billion cut to university funding is being proposed. Coming on top of almost $4 billion that has been stripped from universities and their students over the past 6 years, the proposed further cuts would weaken Australia’s great university system”.

Rankings influence where international students choose to study—and Australia’s strong rankings in recent years have helped to generate a record $24 billion a year in international student fees.

“As our economy changes and old industries face new threats, Australia needs to keep—not cut—our investment in universities to create new jobs, new industries and new sources of income for Australia,” says Robinson.