British universities drop down employability rankings

Independent 16 November 2018

British universities are struggling to keep pace with global institutions in preparing students for the modern workplace, a new report on world rankings suggests. The United Kingdom has experienced a sharp drop in performance for graduate employability at its universities over this decade following intensified global competition, writes Eleanor Busby for the Independent.

The Global University Employability Ranking, published by Times Higher Education, lists the top 150 institutions for employability based on a survey of 7,000 major employers around the world. The UK has 10 universities in the annual ranking this year, compared to 15 institutions in 2011 – when it was the second-most represented nation in the graduate employability table. Since 2011, the country’s overall performance has declined more than any other European nation. Meanwhile, Germany has more than doubled its number of institutions in the top 150.

Simon Baker, data editor at Times Higher Education, said: “The new data analysis reveals a substantial global shift in graduate employability this decade. We see a dramatically improved performance within East Asia and parts of Europe.” Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “As the recent CBI/Pearson report shows, the demand for UK graduates by UK employers is still strong, and continues to grow.” But he added: “It is clear that to maintain our world leading position we must start matching our competitors’ increased investment in higher education.”
Full report on the Independent site

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