UCD up to 75th Place in QS Graduate Employability Rankings

UCD has risen up to 75^th place in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employability Rankings. They aim to measure how successful today’s students are at securing a top job after graduation. Universities are scored on employer reputation, alumni outcomes, employer-student connections, graduate employment rate, and partnerships with employers. This year, 495 universities were ranked, with Stanford University retaining its place at the top of the rankings.

UCD achieved the highest ranking in Ireland, outperforming Trinity College Dublin (TCD), who placed in the 111st-120^th category. The University of Limerick ranked in the 201^st-250^th category, and Dublin City University, the National University of Ireland Galway, and University College Cork all placed in the 301^st-500^th category.

This is not the first time that UCD has ranked favourably in international rankings, with the Sutherland School of Law taking 1^st place in Ireland and 51^st-100^th overall in the QS Subject Rankings earlier this year. Of the 43 subject areas that UCD offers, the university is now number 1 in Ireland for 40 of these, with 13 of the subjects that UCD offers placing in the global top 100. Veterinary Science is UCD’s best-performing degree, placing joint 29^th overall.

This year’s ranking marks a considerable improvement for UCD since last year, who placed 151^st in the Graduate Employability Rankings in 2017. UCD are the only Irish university to improve their performance this past year. The university also strengthened its international position in the QS World Rankings this year, up from 176^th to 168^th, however still below its 2016 ranking of 154^th.

This progress in the rankings is promising for both current UCD graduates and students alike. Professor Andrew Deeks, President of UCD, said of the improvement: ‘Scholarship and research are at the core of UCD, and the fact that we are 75th in this ranking is a reflection on the quality of our faculty, the nurturing environment we provide for our students, the ambition we aim to instil in our graduates and the active partnerships we pursue with employers.’ President Deeks also commented that graduates of UCD are ‘genuinely global citizens’ who ‘impact on society in every arena,’ evidenced clearly by the considerable improvement from last year.

This ranking is welcome following UCD’s failure to rise out of the 201^st-250^th place category in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018 earlier this month.

Andrea Whelton – Business & Law Writer