In 2019 the supervisor response rate was 48.2 per cent with nearly 4,700 supervisor responses. The 2019 ESS results are large enough to provide robust comparisons by broad field of education, course characteristics, employment characteristics, occupation and demographic group. There are sufficient results from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 ESS combined to provide comparisons across universities.
Below is a summary of the survey outcomes. 90 per cent confidence intervals are presented to aid in interpretation of the data. Please refer to the 2019 Employer Satisfaction Survey Report for detailed ESS results.
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With the overall satisfaction of graduates rated by direct supervisors at 84.0 per cent, the results of the 2019 ESS affirm the value of higher education qualifications for employment.
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In 2019, employers reported highest overall satisfaction with Engineering and Related Technologies graduates at 90 per cent. Supervisors also reported above average satisfaction with Health graduates, also 90 per cent, Architecture and Building graduates, 86 per cent, and Education graduates, 85 per cent. On the other hand, employer satisfaction, while still high, appears lower for Creative Arts graduates at 75 per cent, Management and Commerce graduates, 80 per cent, Information Technology graduates, 81 per cent, Society and Culture graduates, 82 per cent, and Natural and Physical Sciences, and Agriculture and Environmental Studies graduates, both 83 per cent.
Employer satisfaction with graduate attributes and overall satisfaction, by broad field of education, 2019 (%, with 90 per cent confidence intervals)
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|
Foundation |
Adaptive |
Collaborative |
Technical |
Employability |
Overall satisfaction |
Natural and Physical Sciences
|
95.4 (93.0, 97.0)
|
91.3 (88.3, 93.5)
|
92.0 (89.1, 94.1)
|
94.3 (91.8, 96.2)
|
90.0 (86.9, 92.5)
|
82.8 (79.0, 86.0)
|
Information Technology
|
91.5 (87.7, 94.3)
|
86.9 (82.5, 90.4)
|
87.9 (83.6, 91.2)
|
92.3 (88.6, 95.0)
|
82.1 (77.1, 86.1)
|
80.6 (75.6, 84.8)
|
Engineering and Related Technologies
|
97.1 (95.2, 98.3)
|
90.4 (87.4, 92.7)
|
91.7 (88.9, 93.9)
|
97.1 (95.2, 98.3)
|
88.2 (85.0, 90.8)
|
89.9 (86.9, 92.3)
|
Architecture and Building
|
92.0 (86.6, 95.4)
|
83.3 (76.6, 88.5)
|
90.3 (84.6, 94.0)
|
92.5 (87.0, 95.8)
|
83.2 (76.4, 88.3)
|
86.4 (80.0, 90.9)
|
Agriculture and Environmental Studies
|
93.9 (88.4, 97.0)
|
86.6 (79.8, 91.4)
|
90.6 (84.4, 94.6)
|
91.4 (85.2, 95.2)
|
87.8 (81.2, 92.3)
|
83.3 (76.1, 88.7)
|
Health
|
93.9 (92.6, 95.1)
|
90.1 (88.5, 91.6)
|
88.1 (86.3, 89.7)
|
94.4 (93.1, 95.5)
|
84.1 (82.1, 85.9)
|
89.6 (87.9, 91.1)
|
Education
|
89.5 (87.2, 91.4)
|
88.9 (86.7, 90.9)
|
84.5 (81.9, 86.8)
|
91.1 (89.0, 92.9)
|
83.6 (80.9, 85.9)
|
85.3 (82.7, 87.5)
|
Management and Commerce
|
92.5 (90.9, 93.9)
|
88.3 (86.3, 90.0)
|
87.3 (85.3, 89.0)
|
90.7 (88.9, 92.3)
|
86.9 (84.8, 88.7)
|
79.9 (77.5, 82.1)
|
Society and Culture
|
92.6 (91.0, 94.0)
|
90.0 (88.2, 91.6)
|
87.1 (85.1, 88.9)
|
92.3 (90.6, 93.7)
|
84.8 (82.7, 86.8)
|
82.0 (79.8, 84.1)
|
Creative Arts
|
89.4 (85.6, 92.4)
|
88.5 (84.6, 91.6)
|
87.1 (83.0, 90.3)
|
90.1 (86.3, 93.0)
|
86.2 (82.0, 89.6))
|
74.6 (69.5, 79.0)
|
Total
|
92.7 (92.0, 93.3)
|
89.3 (88.5, 90.1)
|
87.8 (86.9, 88.5)
|
92.7 (92.0, 93.3)
|
85.4 (84.5, 86.2)
|
84.0 (83.1, 84.9)
|
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Employer satisfaction is consistently high across Australia’s Table A and B universities, with overall satisfaction ranging from 95 per cent to 76 per cent across universities, when results are combined from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 surveys. Employers rate graduates from Bond University highest at 95 per cent, followed by University of Divinity, Australian Catholic University and the University of Wollongong, all 90 per cent. Note caution is warranted in interpreting differences in employer satisfaction across universities due to the relatively small number of survey responses at some universities. Results for individual non-university higher education institutions (NUHEIs) are not published as the number of employer responses remains too small.