Trinity ranked 131st globally for graduate employability

The survey ranked universities based on the employability of their graduates according to both national and international companies.

Trinity has climbed three places to 131st in a new global employability ranking, the Global University Employability Survey, published by Times Higher Education (THE). The survey  ranked universities based on the employability of their graduates according to both national and international companies.

2500 employers from 22 different countries including the the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US) and Germany were surveyed. Recruiters at management level were first asked to vote for the universities they considered most employable. Following this, 3500 managing directors, most of whom had over ten years’ experience and worked in firms which employed over 500 people, ranked the universities which were proposed by the first panel. Survey respondents stated that the most important factor when considering a university was the quality of its teaching staff. This was followed by the production of ready-to-worK graduates. Of all the factors listed, those surveyed ranked international exposure as the least needed attribute when choosing a university to recruit from, followed by a university’s reputation.

California Institute of Technology (CalTech) produces the most employable graduates, according to the survey, with other US universities also ranking very highly. Seven out of the top ten universities were based in the US. Harvard University placed second, with Columbia University in New York ranking third. The highest ranking UK university was Oxford, at 15th, which was followed by Imperial College London at 17th place. Trinity was the only Irish university to be included in the rankings.

The survey also provided employers answers regarding the most important attributes for employment in a digital age. Communication skills were ranked as being the most important, followed by critical thinking and analytical skills, adaptability, initiative and collaboration. Employers reported a skills shortage in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, data engineering and data warehousing and Human Resource (HR) Talent Management.

The need for certain skills varied between nations, with Chinese and Indian employers in need of employees skilled in Artificial Intelligence (AI), whereas firms based in the UK and US struggled to secure employees in the data engineering field. The skill most sought out for in the UK was HR Talent Management, with Indian companies in need of data analytical graduates.

In a similar global graduate employability ranking published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in September, Trinity ranked 111-120, whilst University College Dublin (UCD) ranked 75th  internationally. The University of Limerick (UL) ranked third in Ireland at 301-500. QS use five metrics to calculate its rankings; Employer Reputation, Alumni Outcomes, Partnerships with Employers, Employer-Student Connections and Graduate Employment Rate.