Flinders Uni best in nation for postgrad jobs, Adelaide scores high on QS employability rank

High-skilled jobs are in big demand in SA and one university is leading the entire country when it comes to getting their students to the front of the line.

Flinders’ postgraduate Ashley Johns is a testing technician at Supashock. Picture: Matt Loxton

In a remarkable sign of the strong demand for highly skilled workers in South Australia, Flinders University has recorded the best jobs’ outcome in the nation for postgraduate students.

Almost all – 97 per cent – of Flinders postgraduates were in a full-time job as measured by a federally funded survey.

The annual graduate outcome survey looks at the employment status of students three years after they finish uni.

Adelaide University and UniSA also recorded slight gains on their postgraduate job results this year compared to 2020, while Adelaide-based Torrens University had the second best outcome in Australia.

Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling said it was a fantastic result.

“Our nation-leading result demonstrates that a Flinders degree arms graduates with skills relevant to the modern workplace in areas that are well aligned to workforce needs,” he said.

“Thanks to our rich range of business and industry partnerships, our students graduate with the hands-on experience that employers are looking for.”

Professor Colin Stirling, vice-chancellor of Flinders University. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The graduate outcomes survey, conducted by the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching organisation, covers all the universities in Australia and benchmarks jobs and salaries data.

The survey found Covid-19 had had a major impact, especially on workers who had recently graduated, but those who were already a few years into their career were minimally affected.

Flinders Master of Science graduate Ashley Johns has been employed at hi-tech vehicle component maker Supashock for the past year as a testing technician.

At Flinders, he specialised in organic electronics – that is using polymers as conductors – and researched commercial projects such as solar cell recycling.

“In my undergraduate degree, I really enjoyed nanotechnology. It was humbling to work with some of the best researchers in the world,” he said.

Like many graduates, it took a few years to find a job that matched his skill set.

“At Supashock we’re working on huge variety of products for racing, commercial vehicles, mining and military and we’re expanding into other sectors such as cranes,” he said.

SA’s three main universities were each slightly below the national average of 89 per cent in full-time employment for students who finished with an undergraduate degree.

Adelaide University had the best undergraduate jobs outcome in the survey

Vice-chancellor Peter Hoj also was pleased Adelaide was best in the state and among the top in Australia on an international measure, the QS Graduate Employability Rankings published on Thursday.

The QS rankings consider several factors, including partnerships with employers, graduate employment rates and employer views of a uni’s reputation.

“This sends a message to our students that as well as learning the very best knowledge in their fields, by the time they graduate they will have acquired the attributes that leading employers are looking for – and they will be in demand,” Prof Hoj said.

“We already attract a very strong calibre of students at the University of Adelaide.

“As graduates, they will go out into the world being able to think critically and creatively, with flexible, problem-solving mindsets, and with the ability to demonstrate leadership.”

UniSA acting vice-chancellor Allan Evans said prospective students could be confident that a degree from any of the three public universities in SA had “enduring value”.

“We’re pleased that given our long-established links with industry and the professions, UniSA graduates continue to have very strong employment outcomes even in difficult economic times,” he said.

In terms of salaries, the outcomes survey found UniSA students earned on average $77,277 a year with an undergraduate degree and $100,500 with a postgraduate degree.

Adelaide alumni averaged $75,998 for undergraduates and $87,500 for postgraduates.

Flinders alumni averaged $75,320 for undergraduates and $92,513 for postgraduates.

The survey was based on a national sample of 37,650 graduates from 41 universities and 63 non-university higher education institutions.