Employers broadly satisfied with graduates’ competence

The 2018 Employer Satisfaction Survey shows 85 per cent of employers are satisfied with recent graduates.

The largest and most comprehensive survey of graduate satisfaction has found that employers are largely satisfied with the standard of graduates from Australian universities.

The federal government-funded 2018 Employer Satisfaction Survey reveals that 85 per cent are satisfied with the recent graduates of Australian universities they have hired, as rated by the graduates’ immediate supervisors.

But individual universities vary substantially in their level of employer satisfaction. Bond University leads the field with a 91 per cent overall satisfaction rate, although with a higher level of uncertainty because, as a small university, it has fewer graduates.

Other high-scoring universities in employer satisfaction with graduates are Western Sydney, James Cook, Wollongong, Sunshine Coast and the Australian Catholic University.

At the bottom of the pack is Torrens University with an overall satisfaction rate of 77 per cent, although this result is highly uncertain due to its small number of students.

Other low-scoring universities are Edith Cowan, Southern Queensland, Federation, Adelaide and Murdoch.

The 2018 survey results are based on responses from 5300 employers and rely on input from graduates’ direct supervisors, which gives the data credibility.

“By way of comparison, many other employer surveys are not conducted on a systematic basis and report the perceptions of executives who may have had little or no direct experience with graduates,” the survey’s report says.

It points out that the graduate employability rankings from QS are based on responses from about 800 employers.

The survey also asked em­ployers about graduates’ specific ­employment attributes, which tended to be rated higher than the general satisfaction rate.

Asked about foundation skills (such as literacy, numeracy and communication) the employers of 94 per cent of graduates expressed their satisfaction.

On adaptive skills, 90 per cent were satisfied, while for collaborative skills the satisfaction rate was 89 per cent, for technical skills it was 94 per cent, and for employability skills (defined as the ability to perform and innovate in the workplace) it was 87 per cent.

Employers were generally most satisfied with graduates from STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) courses, for whom the general satisfaction rates were above 85 per cent.

However satisfaction was below this level for graduates of courses in management and commerce, society and culture, and creative arts.

The study was carried out by the Social Research Centre and is published at the Quality Indicators in Learning and Teaching website.