January 31, 2020

Employers rank UOW graduates highest in overall satisfaction in NSW

UOW maintains NSW top spot in QILT employer satisfaction survey results

Employers are more satisfied with University of Wollongong (UOW) graduates than with graduates of all other NSW public universities, a newly-released national survey has revealed.

The Australian Government’s Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) Employer Satisfaction Survey found employers’ overall satisfaction level with UOW graduates was at 89.6%, ranking above all other NSW public universities and second among public universities nationally.

UOW was the only NSW public university in the top five Australian universities for graduate employer satisfaction.

The annual QILT survey asks supervisors to rate their satisfaction with the performance of graduate employees in their workplace across five key skills areas: Foundation skills, Adaptive skills, Collaborative skills, Technical and Employability skills.

The survey results, which indicate graduates’ readiness for the workplace, is a crucial capstone measure in QILT’s analysis of the university student lifecycle from commencement to employment.

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings CBE, said the result reflected the University’s personalised approach to its students and the initiatives in place to help students develop their skills and workplace readiness while they are undertaking studies.

These initiatives include its signature UOWx program, which provides formal recognition for co-curricular activities undertaken by students while completing their degrees.

UOW also offers opportunities for students to develop professional skills via work integrated learning programs, activities to encourage student entrepreneurship, strong industry connections and a broad range of international study abroad destinations.

The University also encourages students to take on extra-curricular activities and partake in industry projects or become involved in collaborative research opportunities with UOW’s research partners across industry, institutes or other Australian and overseas universities.

“As well as a positive student experience marked by a high standard of teaching and learning, we aim to provide our students with the widest possible range of opportunities to gain experiences that prepare them to join the workforce.

“It is very pleasing to see that the work done by our staff over many years is yielding results in the job-ready UOW graduates employers are seeing in their workplaces,” Professor Wellings said.

The Employment Satisfaction Survey is part of a suite of surveys undertaken by the Social Research Centre on behalf of the Federal Department of Education. The other surveys contributing to the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching are the Student Experience Survey, Graduate Outcomes Survey and Graduate Outcomes Survey – Longitudinal.