Quartet tops new Guide

UNSW, UWA, Wollongong University and Bond University have emerged as top performers in the 2009 Good Universities Guide.

THE University of NSW, the University of Western Australia, Wollongong University and Bond University have emerged as top performers on the crucial criteria of graduate employment and salaries, according to the The Good Universities Guide 2009 released today.

Each of the four received five stars for their performance in these areas, which are among more than 30 categories of ratings compiled in the Guide.

Results are based on surveys of graduates and universities for the 2007 calendar year, and on Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations data.

Bond and Wollongong also received five stars for graduate satisfaction with the educational experience. Bond received five stars for entry flexibility and, with UNSW, for staff qualifications.

The survey also showed that job prospects and starting salaries are beginning to reflect the shortage of graduates in areas such as education and training, engineering, medicine, nursing and rehabilitation.

The last three in the list are now ranked with five stars in terms of graduates finding work, with engineering at four stars and education and training at three stars.

All of these fields have shown an increase in enrolments, too, on a four-year comparison of Guide statistics, according to Davorin Vrdoljak, general manager, publishing, at the guide's publisher Hobsons.

But this is not happening with other areas of skills shortages, such as accounting, agriculture and tourism and hospitality, where jobs and salaries hover around the two and three star level.

And despite the high profile of the environment and climate change, job prospects for graduates in these areas are rated at two stars and so are starting salaries.