The QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2019 will be published on September 11, revealing which of the world’s universities are doing the most to produce employable graduates.
Containing nearly 500 institutions, this year’s ranking allows students to see how the world’s top universities are perceived by employers and also gain greater insight into what alumni of each institution go on to achieve. As well as measuring the graduate employability rate of each university, the ranking also measures alumni outcomes, looking at more than 30,000 of the world’s most innovative, creative, wealthy, entrepreneurial, and philanthropic individuals to establish which universities are producing world-changing individuals.
Last year, Stanford University had the honor of being ranked number one for graduate employability, with several other top US universities – including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has been ranked first in the QS World University Rankings® more than any other institution – hot on Stanford’s heels. Whether any of them have been able to overtake Stanford remains to be seen.
In recent years, Australian and Californian universities have both performed well in the Graduate Employability Rankings and they’ll be hoping this trend continues this year. The performance of institutions such as the University of Sydney and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is particularly noteworthy given neither of these institutions features in the top 30 of the latest world rankings.
Of course, this difference between the two rankings is partly attributable to how many of the world’s top universities continue to fail at producing employable graduates. While each institution can justifiably point to some areas of success, the wide range of research compiled by QS (summarized in our recent Skills Gap report) has made it clear that an overwhelming proportion of employers are dissatisfied with the level of skills today’s graduates possess when they enter the job market.
Whatever the outcome of the Graduate Employability Rankings when it’s released on September 11, all universities need to be doing more to help their students gain the skills required for the working world. Over the coming months and years, we’ll be paying particular attention to how successfully (or not, as the case may be) top universities are training their students. Got a story to share with us from your own studies? Get in touch in the comments below and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.
The QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2019 will be published on September 11. Until then, check out last year’s results here.
