Best universities helping NT students to land a full-time job

Territorian students at regional universities are more likely to land a job than graduates from prestigious “sandstone’’ institutions. See the list.

Exclusive: Students at regional universities are more likely to land a job than graduates from prestigious “sandstone’’ institutions.

Charles Darwin University boasts an employment rate of 79.1 per cent this year – well above the national average, and higher than many big-name rivals interstate.

Only two capital city universities are among the top 10 for graduate employment, exclusive new data obtained by The NT News reveals.

Among the top eight universities, at least three quarters of last year’s graduates found full-time work this year.

But in the worst-performing universities, more than half the graduates were still hunting for a full-time job, four months after finishing their degree.

Charles Darwin University has the third-highest employment rate in the nation this year.

The top performer is Charles Sturt University, based in regional NSW, where is 84.7 per cent of students have full-time work.

Student nurse Jess Lightfoot said she “fell in love with the campus’’ at Port Macquarie.

“I felt that they really cared about each student – they reach out to see how we’re doing,’’ she said.

“I chose nursing because I knew I didn’t want to work in an office and be stuck inside answering phones.

“I wanted to be working with people, helping them in their time of need, and making a real difference.’’

Eight out of 10 graduates from the University of New England found a full-time job within four months, making it the second-best performer nationally.

Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Nursing student, Jessica Lightfoot. Picture: Liam Driver

Western Australia and COVID-19-ravaged Victoria have the nation’s worst-performing universities for job outcomes.

Barely 54 per cent of students at the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University were in full-time work four months after graduation.

Just 57 per cent of students at the University of Melbourne, Edith Cowan University and Victoria University had found full-time work.

The nation’s only private uni, Bond University on the Gold Coast, has an employment rate of 61.2 per cent.

The University of NSW, with a 76.2 per cent employment rate for graduates, and the University of Sydney, with 75.1 per cent, are the only “sandstone universities’’ in the top 10.

Across Australia, 68.7 per cent of university graduates found full-time work this year, within four months of graduating – down from 72.2 per cent in 2019.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said nine out of 10 Australian university graduates find full-time work within three years of graduation.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had a “major impact’’ on graduate employment rates this year.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: Supplied

He said the federal government would spend $550 million for up to 30,000 extra university places next year, as well as short courses for Australians to upskill during the COVID-19 recession.

The survey, commissioned by the federal Department of Education, does not reveal whether graduates found work in the same field they studied at university.

It says graduates from regional universities are more likely to be older, and to study externally and part-time.

“(They) are more likely to have completed vocational degrees and … have also fared better in the current downturn,’’ it says.

The Education Department said the COVID-19 recession had cut full-time employment rates among most university graduates this year.

“Graduates from regional universities are more likely to be older, studying externally and part-time, and maintain a continuing connection with the labour market,’’ it says.

“(This) explains, in part, why graduates from these universities may have fared better in the current downturn.’’

The employment rates are based on graduates looking for full-time work, four months after finishing an undergraduate degree.

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