Despite a soft national labour market, graduates from The University of Queensland have again achieved outstanding employment rates in 2012 – 4.2 percentage points above the national average.
Graduate Careers Australia's (GCA) Australian Graduate Survey 2012 reveals that UQ graduates under the age of 25 and available for full-time work continued to score jobs in the post-global financial crisis climate.
In the national performance figures, UQ had achieved a full-time employment rate for bachelor degree graduates of 78.3 per cent against the national full-time employment figure of 74.1 per cent reported by GCA.
The data, which apply to Australian citizens and permanent residents, were collected in April, 2012, within four months of students completing their studies.
The University of Queensland has 7.7 per cent of its graduates recorded as unemployed and seeking full-time employment in the Australian Graduate Survey 2012. This is better than the national rate of 8.6 per cent of bachelor degree graduates reported by GCA as not working and still looking for full-time employment at the time of the survey.
The figures for UQ bachelor degree graduates in further full-time study represented 21.4 per cent against a national figure of 24.7 per cent.
The GCA said the soft labour market conditions, reflecting the state of the broader economic environment, also served to limit the growth in graduate starting salaries.
UQ bachelor degree graduates in their first full-time employment (and under 25 years of age) reported median starting salaries of $58,000 for males and $52,000 for females. The national median annual starting salary for bachelor degree graduates aged less than 25 and in their first full-time employment in Australia was $52,000.
Of those in their first full-time employment, the higher end UQ salaries reported by graduates included:
1. Dental Practitioners: $250,000
2. Mining Engineering Consultant: $130,000
3. Engineering Assistant: $115,000
4. Environmental Advisor: $115,000
5. Geologist: $110,000
The top six professions for bachelor graduates by levels of full-time employment:
Pharmacy: 97.1%
Medicine: 96.6%
Law: 95.2%
Rehabilitation: 95.2%
Computer Science: 94.4%
Mining and Civil Engineering: 93.9%.
For further information about studying at UQ please visit www.uq.edu.au or contact:
• Domestic Undergraduate and Postgraduate Coursework admissions: admissionsenquiries@admin.uq.edu.au
• Research Higher Degree Admissions admissions@gradschool.uq.edu.au
• International Admissions and General Enquiries: visit the online enquiry form here.
Or visit UQ Options Evening on Wednesday, 19 December at 4pm to 6pm at the UQ Centre, St Lucia.
Media: Janelle Kirkland, j.kirkland@uq.edu.au or 07 3346 0561.
