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Best universities for graduate jobs: Global Employability University Ranking 2023-24

Universities producing the most employable graduates have been ranked by companies around the world in the Global University Employability Ranking 2023-24

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November 23 2023
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Going to college or university is about more than just preparing for a career, but choosing the right institution and course can certainly improve your graduate prospects.

A global employability ranking, designed by the HR consultancy Emerging and published exclusively by Times Higher Education, reveals which universities the recruiters at top companies think are best at preparing students for the workplace and helping them to find work experience opportunities.

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These 250 universities span 44 countries, from the US to Japan. Employers voted for institutions both in their own country and around the world, if they recruit internationally. 

The full methodology can be found here

In some countries and regions, graduate jobs are not easy to come by, but in European countries such as France, Switzerland and Germany, professional experience is built into degree programmes.

France, Germany and China are among the best represented countries in the employability ranking, along with the UK and the US.

Singapore, Japan and the UK each have an institution in the top 10, with Chinese and Swiss universities also appearing high in the ranking.


Top universities in the United States for employability
Top universities in the UK for employability
Top universities in Canada for employability
Top universities in Australia for employability
Top universities in the Netherlands for employability
Top universities in France for employability
Top universities in Germany for employability


Top universities for employability 2023-24

1. California Institute of Technology

It’s no surprise that the California Institute of Technology – regarded as one of the world’s best universities – is a favourite among international employers. Students are admitted on the basis of strong interest and skills in maths, science and engineering.

Not only do Caltech students learn the fundamentals across a range of science and engineering subjects, they get to grips with the most innovative tools to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.

The student population is tiny compared with other colleges – it’s one of the smallest in the world, with just over 1,000 undergraduates and 1,200 postgraduates. This close community allows for good relationships between tutors and staff.

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In addition to its world-leading courses, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers career-enhancing programmes for undergraduates, industry leaders and the general public.

Many companies have significant involvement in college courses and research, often spanning disciplines and lasting several years.

MIT students, faculty members and alumni play key roles in entrepreneurial innovations, including developing advanced computer networks, securing venture capital transactions and advancing biotechnology.

3. Stanford University

Stanford University is located in Pasadena, California, right next to the world-renowned Silicon Valley.

In total, companies founded by Stanford affiliates and alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenues, which would be the 10th-largest economy in the world. These firms include Google, Nike, Netflix, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Instagram and Charles Schwab.

Stanford alumni have also founded non-profit organisations such as Kiva and SIRUM.

Stanford is one of the top universities for law in the US.

4. University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is one of the world’s best universities.

Its history stretches back to the 13th century, when it was founded by Oxford scholars taking refuge after conflicts with townspeople.

Now, its graduates are globally sought after, valued particularly for their specialist knowledge, gained as a result of the personal tuition that is unique to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

5. Harvard University

Harvard University is the oldest and arguably the most prestigious college in the United States, with a reputation for admitting and producing highly accomplished students.

More than 30 heads of state have studied at Harvard, and the university also counts 38 Nobel prizewinners and 48 Pulitzer winners among its alumni.

Like many institutions favoured by employers, Harvard has a long history of groundbreaking research and innovation.

Many students undertake extracurricular activities while studying, from sport to entrepreneurial endeavours, which equip them with the essential skills to succeed.

Harvard is also one of the top universities for law in the US.


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Global University Employability Ranking 2023-34

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2024 profile

Rank 2023-24Rank 2022-23UniversityCountryregion
12California Institute of TechnologyUS
21Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUS
35Stanford UniversityUS
44University of CambridgeUK
53Harvard UniversityUS
69Princeton UniversityUS
77The University of TokyoJapan
86University of OxfordUK
98National University of SingaporeSingapore
1010Yale UniversityUS
1116Imperial College LondonUK
1211University of TorontoCanada
1312Technical University of MunichGermany
1414Peking UniversityChina
1515ETH ZurichSwitzerland
1613Columbia UniversityUS
1717New York UniversityUS
1819IE UniversitySpain
1918CentraleSupélec - Paris Saclay UniversityFrance
2021University of California, BerkeleyUS
2127Tsinghua UniversityChina
2223HEC ParisFrance
2320École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland
2425London School of Economics and Political Science UK
2522Boston UniversityUS
2624Carnegie Mellon UniversityUS
2728Indian Institute of Technology DelhiIndia
2833Ecole Polytechnique - Institut Polytechique de ParisFrance
2930The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong
3026Duke UniversityUS
3129McGill UniversityCanada
3235Australian National UniversityAustralia
3331Tokyo Institute of TechnologyJapan
3434Arizona State University (Tempe)US
3532Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSingapore
3636University of British ColumbiaCanada
3737University of NavarraSpain
3842Kyoto UniversityJapan
3943Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina
4040Technion Israel Institute of TechnologyIsrael
4149London Business SchoolUK
4238Johns Hopkins UniversityUS
4347University of Hong KongHong Kong
4441EMLyon Business SchoolFrance
4545University of MelbourneAustralia
4648Humboldt University of BerlinGermany
4744KU Leuven Belgium
4839Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands
4990The University of ChicagoUS
5052Sorbonne UniversityFrance
5151Fudan UniversityChina
5250Mines Paris - PSL UniversityFrance
5354LMU MunichGermany
5446Georgia Institute of TechnologyUS
5558Indian Institute of ScienceIndia
5653Technical University of BerlinGermany
5755ESSEC Business SchoolFrance
5857EDHEC Business SchoolFrance
5956University of SydneyAustralia
6074Dartmouth CollegeUS
6160Bocconi UniversityItaly
6272Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (ITT)India
6370ESCP Business SchoolFrance
6465Seoul National UniversitySouth Korea
6568Université Paris-SaclayFrance
6669University of ZurichSwitzerland
6775University of ManchesterUK
6864King's College LondonUK
6966Hebrew University of JerusalemIsrael
7073Heidelberg UniversityGermany
7161University of HelsinkiFinland
7263University of Montreal/HECCanada
7362KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden
7459Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay - Paris Saclay UniversityFrance
7567Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)South Korea
7671Stockholm UniversitySweden
7776Florida Institute of TechnologyUS
7883Brown UniversityUS
7982Frankfurt School of Finance & ManagementGermany
8085National Taiwan UniversityTaiwan
8178Monterrey Institute of TechnologyMexico
8280University of California, Los AngelesUS
8379University of Science and Technology of China China
8477Cornell UniversityUS
8581McMaster UniversityCanada
8686National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech)Taiwan
8784University of AucklandNew Zealand
88112Zhejiang UniversityChina
8987Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands
9091Tel Aviv UniversityIsrael
9188Technical University of DenmarkDenmark
9294Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong
9389Hanyang UniversitySouth Korea
9496Leiden UniversityNetherlands
9599Polytechnic University of MilanItaly
9698Free University of BerlinGermany
9793University of ViennaAustria
9897The University of QueenslandAustralia
9995Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)South Korea
10092Sungkyunkwan University South Korea
101107Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany
102102University of OsloNorway
103108University of São PauloBrazil
104103Korea UniversitySouth Korea
105101Utrecht UniversityNetherlands
106104Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea
107100Tufts UniversityUS
108106Karolinska InstituteSweden
109110Rice UniversityUS
110105University of LausanneSwitzerland
111111UNSW SydneyAustralia
112114University of HamburgGermany
113109Monash UniversityAustralia
114118University of BernSwitzerland
115115Texas A&M UniversityUS
116116Chalmers University of TechnologySweden
117117University of BaselSwitzerland
118118Eindhoven University of TechnologyNetherlands
119113Aarhus UniversityDenmark
120131Arts et Métiers France
121121University of PennsylvaniaUS
122132Autonomous University of BarcelonaSpain
123127Chemnitz University of TechnologyGermany
124120RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany
125126University of AmsterdamNetherlands
126143Boston CollegeUS
127123National Autonomous University of MexicoMexico
128129Ghent UniversityBelgium
129124Waseda UniversityJapan
130125Keio UniversityJapan
131133Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong
132142Nanjing UniversityChina
133135Autonomous University of MadridSpain
134140Goethe University FrankfurtGermany
135139University of Buenos AiresArgentina
136136Carlos III University of MadridSpain
137128UCLUK
138134Northwestern UniversityUS
139138University of St AndrewsUK
140141University of MannheimGermany
141143Paris Dauphine University - PSL UniversityFrance
142149University of CologneGermany
143155Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurIndia
144156École des Ponts ParisTechFrance
145130Michigan State UniversityUS
146147Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)China
147137University of EdinburghUK
148152Nagoya UniversityJapan
149148Northeastern UniversityUS
150158Complutense University of MadridSpain
151145University of Michigan - Ann ArborUS
152162Qatar UniversityQatar
153150Georgetown UniversityUS
154146American University of BeirutLebanon
155153Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina
156154Indian Institute of Management India
157176University of California, San FranciscoUS
158164Osaka UniversityJapan
159151Aalto UniversityFinland
160159Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyNorway
161160University of Technology SydneyAustralia
162165TU WienAustria
163166University of Southern CaliforniaUS
164163Tongji UniversityChina
165161University of IcelandIceland
166168University of AntwerpBelgium
167178Universitat Ramon Llul Spain
168171University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUS
169172University of AlbertaCanada
170200Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina
171173University of ChileChile
172194Emory UniversityUS
173169University of GenevaSwitzerland
174188University of California, San DiegoUS
175179Abu Dhabi UniversityUAE
176186Babson CollegeUS
177185American University in DubaiUAE
178175University of OttawaCanada
179167University of FloridaUS
180157University of BirminghamUK
181170Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands
182174Purdue University West LafayetteUS
183181University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUS
184182King Abdulaziz UniversitySaudi Arabia
185183University of VictoriaCanada
186184Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands
187187King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia
188177Rutgers UniversityUS
189198Cardiff UniversityUK
190191University of WaterlooCanada
191180Macquarie UniversityAustralia
192199Sapienza University of RomeItaly
193196Université du QuébecCanada
194193Penn State University (Main campus)US
195NRToronto Metropolitan UniversityCanada
196189George Washington UniversityUS
197197Case Western Reserve UniversityUS
198NRBeijing Normal UniversityChina
199202Trinity College DublinIreland
200215National Tsing Hua UniversityTaiwan
201195University of GeorgiaUS
202203Vanderbilt UniversityUS
203189Durham UniversityUK
204204University of BergenNorway
205212Istanbul Technical UniversityTurkey
206209Queensland University of TechnologyAustralia
207214University of GothenburgSweden
208NRUniversity of BonnGermany
209206Aalborg UniversityDenmark
210219Copenhagen Business SchoolDenmark
211220Charles University Czech Republic
212210Scuola Normale Superiore de PisaItaly
213218Bar-Ilan UniversityIsrael
214216Uppsala UniversitySweden
215223Télécom Paris - Institut Polytechnique de ParisFrance
216208University of BolognaItaly
217226Ecole Centrale de LyonFrance
218NRUniversity of FreiburgGermany
219205Sabanci UniversityTurkey
220225Amity UniversityIndia
221232Technical University of DarmstadtGermany
222201Leibniz University HannoverGermany
223238Aix-Marseille UniversityFrance
224229University of Notre DameUS
225242Bangalore UniversityIndia
226234Bielefeld UniversityGermany
227NRUniversity of BarcelonaSpain
228NRWashington University in St LouisUS
229239Tokyo University of ScienceJapan
230NRWuhan UniversityChina
231243Pontificia Universidad Católica ArgentinaArgentina
232221University of MalayaMalaysia
233240Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV)Brazil
234NRTohoku UniversityJapan
235NRIndian Institute of Technology MadrasIndia
236236Skema Business SchoolFrance
237NRUniversity of DelhiIndia
238233University of GuadalajaraMexico
239NRUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstUS
240NRUniversité Grenoble Alpes France
241NRUniversity of MilanItaly
242NRUniversity of LisbonPortugal
243211Brandeis UniversityUS
244NRNational and Kapodistrian University of AthensGreece
245NRUniversity of Cape TownSouth Africa
246NRRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteUS
247NRUniversity of IndonesiaIndonesia
248NRHassan II University of CasablancaMorocco
249248Cairo UniversityEgypt
250245Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa

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