Campus desk :
Cambridge graduates have been named as the “most employable” in the world after the university knocked Oxford off top spot in a prestigious international league table.
The institution was ranked as the global leader in new US-based rankings that measure universities for the production of graduates who are “ready to work”, expertise in a particular field and reputation.
In all, five British universities were named among the top 20 – one more than last year – and 12 were in the top 150. The UK had more top-ranking universities than any country other than the United States.
Figures show Cambridge climbed from third last year to first in 2014 while Oxford fell from first to fourth. Harvard and Yale, in the US, were named second and third.
Other British universities featuring near the summit of the table – the Global Employability University Ranking – included University College London (14th), Imperial College London (15th) and Edinburgh (18th).
The disclosure underlines the scale of the dominance exercised by a small number of Britain’s very best universities over their peers within the UK and internationally.
But the study, which was published by the International New York Times, found that Asian countries were rapidly catching up with their western counterparts.
Asian universities claimed 20 per cent of the top 150 places in 2014 compared with only 10 per cent when the tables were first published in 2010. The University of Tokyo was the top ranked Asian university in 10th followed by Hong Kong University of Sciences and Technology in 16th.
Emerging, one of the consultants behind the rankings, said it exposed the “global market” in higher education. It also exposed the gulf between elite institutions in the UK and other less prestigious universities.
It follows the publication of figures last year showing how fewer than one-in-20 students were left jobless six months after leaving some of Britain’s best universities compared with one-in-five at the worst-performing institutions.
Earlier this year, Alan Milburn, the government’s social mobility tsar, said employers should run “university-blind applications” to give equal weighting to those from lower-ranking institutions, preventing the “dramatic over-representation” of Oxbridge graduates in senior roles.
Laurent Dupasquier, Emerging managing partner, said: “The top tier players, global brands (which tend to be all American and British), continue to lead, while other Anglo-Saxon universities, those that are mainly regional players, tend to fare less well, with an average of five places lost in comparison with last year.
“Like the premier league, the champions have an international community of students and think internationally, unlike their more locally oriented counterparts”. The rankings are based on a survey of 2,500 leading companies in 20 countries worldwide.
In a series of interviews, recruiters were asked to rank universities against a range of criteria including their production of graduates who are ready to work, expertise in one field of competence, quality of teaching staff, facilities, reputation, links with companies and international exposure.
Overall, companies named the UK third as a nation – behind the US and Germany – when it came to producing graduates most “ready for work”.
-Telgraph.co.uk
Cambridge graduates have been named as the “most employable” in the world after the university knocked Oxford off top spot in a prestigious international league table.
The institution was ranked as the global leader in new US-based rankings that measure universities for the production of graduates who are “ready to work”, expertise in a particular field and reputation.
In all, five British universities were named among the top 20 – one more than last year – and 12 were in the top 150. The UK had more top-ranking universities than any country other than the United States.
Figures show Cambridge climbed from third last year to first in 2014 while Oxford fell from first to fourth. Harvard and Yale, in the US, were named second and third.
Other British universities featuring near the summit of the table – the Global Employability University Ranking – included University College London (14th), Imperial College London (15th) and Edinburgh (18th).
The disclosure underlines the scale of the dominance exercised by a small number of Britain’s very best universities over their peers within the UK and internationally.
But the study, which was published by the International New York Times, found that Asian countries were rapidly catching up with their western counterparts.
Asian universities claimed 20 per cent of the top 150 places in 2014 compared with only 10 per cent when the tables were first published in 2010. The University of Tokyo was the top ranked Asian university in 10th followed by Hong Kong University of Sciences and Technology in 16th.
Emerging, one of the consultants behind the rankings, said it exposed the “global market” in higher education. It also exposed the gulf between elite institutions in the UK and other less prestigious universities.
It follows the publication of figures last year showing how fewer than one-in-20 students were left jobless six months after leaving some of Britain’s best universities compared with one-in-five at the worst-performing institutions.
Earlier this year, Alan Milburn, the government’s social mobility tsar, said employers should run “university-blind applications” to give equal weighting to those from lower-ranking institutions, preventing the “dramatic over-representation” of Oxbridge graduates in senior roles.
Laurent Dupasquier, Emerging managing partner, said: “The top tier players, global brands (which tend to be all American and British), continue to lead, while other Anglo-Saxon universities, those that are mainly regional players, tend to fare less well, with an average of five places lost in comparison with last year.
“Like the premier league, the champions have an international community of students and think internationally, unlike their more locally oriented counterparts”. The rankings are based on a survey of 2,500 leading companies in 20 countries worldwide.
In a series of interviews, recruiters were asked to rank universities against a range of criteria including their production of graduates who are ready to work, expertise in one field of competence, quality of teaching staff, facilities, reputation, links with companies and international exposure.
Overall, companies named the UK third as a nation – behind the US and Germany – when it came to producing graduates most “ready for work”.
-Telgraph.co.uk
