Every year, the world’s top universities look to the QS world rankings to see which have come out on top for employability (chances of a graduate getting a job, and how quickly they enter the job market). Released in November, the details for last year found that three British universities were in the world’s top 20 for employability. Looking further afield, seven British institutions were in the top 50, marking a great year for some of our top universities.
The Top British Universities
While prestigious American university Stanford came in at top spot again, it is to the Oxbridge universities that we expect the highest ranking from British universities. This year is no different. Cambridge came in at an impressive fifth place and Oxford came in at eighth. Completing the top 20 is Imperial College London in 20th place. This makes the three institutions amongst the most prestigious universities in the world. Outside of the top 20, University College London came in at 24th place. Manchester came in at 35th place with the University of Bristol in 39th place. Edinburgh completed the top spots, coming in at 50th place.
What Does This Mean?
As with previous years, the highest-ranking universities are heavily focused on the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Globally, and in the western world, these are areas of skills shortage. Therefore, those with degrees in this area can expect more options available to them.
However, there are some problems with the listing. Employability is calculated as an average for students graduating from these universities. No accounting is made for individual subjects. Therefore, where a prestigious university has a department or subject not performing as well as a rival, they may have an average employability better than the rival with the better performing department.
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Other Notable Institutions
Unsurprisingly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came in at second place. Those expecting a clean sweep of the top three for American universities may be surprised to learn that a Chinese university is in third place – Tsinghua University. The University of Sydney came fourth, just ahead of Cambridge. The highest performing university from the European mainland is the French institution Ecole Polytechnique ParisTech. Imperial College London shared 20th place with Germany’s top ranking institution - Karlsruher Institut für Technologie. Japan’s top ranking institution was Waseda University at 26. Canada’s top university was Toronto in position 19.
This list works better as a guide; students should not use it to determine a choice of courses between similar subjects at different universities. A university lower on this list (or not on the list at all) may have a better performing or more prestigious department in that subject.