Top universities for employment outcomes

If you’re thinking of applying to university, chances are you’ve probably considered factors such as job prospects and career opportunities when deciding whether an institution is a good fit for you.   

With that said, the QS World University Rankings 2023 feature a new indicator – Employment Outcomes – to reflect the fact that for many students, a successful career is one of their primary goals of going to university.  

The indicator is designed to reflect the ability of institutions who ensure a high level of employability for their graduates, while also nurturing future leaders who go on to make an impact in their respective fields. 

The indicator is a combination of two metrics used in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings:  

• Graduate Employment Rate (the percentage of graduates who go on to paid (non-voluntary) work within 15 months of finishing their degree)  

• Alumni Outcomes Index (which institutions are producing impactful graduates in all walks of life, from performing arts to finance, medicine to politics) 

You can find out more about the methodology used to produce the ranking here. 

Although the Employment Outcomes indicator is unweighted for this year’s ranking, we’ve compiled a list of top performing institutions: 

To find out more about how top-ranked universities are preparing their graduates to excel in the workplace, we spoke to the careers team at UNSW Sydney (ranked first for employment outcomes in Australia) and NYU (ranked 13th for employment outcomes globally).  

Tom Pyke, Team Lead at UNSW Careers, said: “UNSW Employability is a central unit at UNSW, focusing on developing in-demand graduates optimally prepared for the workforce. We provide individual career coaching, student development initiatives, co-curricular programmes and Work Integrated Learning courses that enable students to work in interdisciplinary teams to solve a real-world problem with a community, government or industry partner organisation locally or overseas. 

“Our Roadmap to Employability: Discover, Launch, Grow curates the curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular offerings at UNSW as part of a clearly sign-posted student employability journey that fosters a rich, diverse and nurturing student experience.  

“The three phases of the roadmap capture a step-change process that helps students to realise their graduate ambitions, these being: 

• Discover: At this phase, programming supports students in discovering their values, motivations, interests, and aspirations, and determining what this means for their future personal and professional ambitions.  

• Launch: At this phase, programming supports students in trialling their intended future professional endeavour through internships, placements, projects and other real-world opportunities such as global exchanges and field trips.  

• Grow: This phase comprises of programming that supports students to transition into their graduate roles. It also supports early career alumni to grow their career through accelerated professional development opportunities, or to pivot their career in a direction that might result in more meaningful and sustainable work in the future”.  

Gracy Sarkissian, Executive Director of Wasserman Center for Career Development at NYU, said:  

“Through individualised coaching, career development programming, and on-demand resources, we guide students through a three-part career development process where they Explore, Prepare, and Connect to their futures. We empower students to discover their interests, identify a path, and gain the tools they need to succeed beyond their first job.  

“In addition to helping students and alumni refine their resumes/CVs and enhance their interviewing skills, we seek to expose them to a variety of career paths through internships, short term projects, boot camps, and site visits. We also provide opportunities to connect with professionals across diverse fields to expand their networks and identify mentors.  

“Most importantly, the Wasserman Center engages colleagues across the university to embed career guidance into the broader college experience, expanding access to ensure students graduate with a clear direction as well as the experiences and networks to achieve their goals.”