The Global Employability University Ranking (GEUR), a survey that scores universities from across the world based on their graduate employability, has released its list of top 150 institutions for 2015. Of the 150 higher education institutes ranked, 12 UK universities are included, but the University of Edinburgh is the only Scottish institution present, rated 23rd in the rankings .
After being repeatedly ranked among the top 100 universities in the world by numerous higher education surveys, the University of Glasgow failed to make an appearance in the GEUR top 150.
In spite of the GEUR’s findings, the University of Glasgow’s 2016 prospectus continues to boast 94% graduate employability and high rankings in surveys such as the Guardian University Guide and QS World University Ranking, while placing 76th worldwide in the Times Higher Education League Table.
The survey, designed and commissioned by French consultancy company Emerging, was conducted with 4600 recruiters and managing directors from twenty different countries participating. While other league tables judge institutes on academic aspects such as teaching standards and research impact, the GEUR consults with company representatives on their preferred institutes and what attributes these employers consider to be the most important when recruiting graduates. Aside from the presence of highly renowned universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard taking the highest spots, the GEUR ranking results differ significantly from those of other league tables as academic prowess is omitted from the equation.
The survey results support the suggested trend in recent years that has seen a shift away from purely academic qualifications as companies prefer to base graduate employment decisions on experience with past graduates from the same institute, international exposure, and the institute’s level of expertise in the relevant industry. On the GEUR results Director of Emerging Laurent Dupasquier commented “as recruiters develop a better knowledge and understanding of the global higher education market, reputation plays less of a role and expertise plays more”.
In the survey, when asked to prioritise graduate attributes the consensus among the participating companies was that professional experience and specific skills were far more important than a graduate’s grades.
