Recruiters rank U of T grads first in employability for Canada, 13th in world

The University of Toronto came out tops in Canada for graduate employability for the third straight year in the annual Global Employability University Survey and Ranking.

And that’s good news for U of T grads, since employability – the working skills of graduating students – is the number one criterion that employment recruiters look at when hiring, according to the survey results.

U of T placed 13th in the survey, up from 14th in 2013. Other Canadian institutions in the top 100 were McGill (28th), HEC Montréal (47th), UBC (55th) and McMaster (80th). The University of Cambridge finished in first place overall, followed by Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Oxford and the California Institute of Technology.

The survey was conducted by French human resources consulting group Emerging Associates along with Trendence, a German polling and research institute. Results were based on surveys of 4,500 international recruiters in 20 countries. (Read more of the survey.)

“The University of Toronto’s very high standing in graduate employability is a testament to the talent of our students and the excellence of our teaching faculty,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “Our goal is to help our students develop the core competencies they need for a lifetime of success, and it is immensely gratifying to see our alumni, including our newest alumni, flourishing in every field imaginable.”

In a statement, Emerging Associates said the survey seeks “the secrets behind winning brands known as hotbeds of talent to recruiters.”  Employability is the top criterion, said Laurent Dupasquier, associate director of Emerging Associates but other factors, such as the recruiter’s past experience with a university’s grads, and the university’s teaching, research and reputation also play a role.

“On the whole, the results of this year’s survey and the ensuing ranking confirm that ‘global’ is the key word for tomorrow’s university,” said Dupasquier.  “Like the premiere league, the champions have an international community of students and think internationally, unlike their more locally oriented counterparts.”

The University of Toronto’s employment rate for graduates at two years out is 91.7%, based on a survey of all 2009 graduates of undergraduate degree programs. The university offers a range of programs and initiatives to further graduates’ career prospects, including courses on entrepreneurship, co-op programs, professional experience year programs and the co-curricular record.

The employability ranking is the latest in a series of rankings showing U of T as a global leader. This ranking focuses less on academic achievement in terms of research and development and more on the working skills of graduates, but some of the other results this year include:

• 14th place in the world and best in Canada in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities Ranking
• Fourth place in the world in the National Taiwan University rankings – and one of only two non-American universities, alongside Oxford, to make the top 10
• 20th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
• 20th in the QS World Rankings
• 24th in the world and tops in Canada in the Shanghai Jiao Tong’s Academic Ranking of World Universities