Employer review
Details of how the Employer Review indicator is derived for the Times Higher - QS World University Rankings
Introduced in 2005, the Employer Review is key in evaluating institutions from the perspective of Graduate Employability, one of the originally intended four focuses, themes or pillars of the research. In domestic ranking projects around the world a variety of indicators have been used such as percentage of graduates employed or graduate salaries, but these are subject to significant local influence. At a trans-national level they can become more a measure of economic strength, cultural trends or political effectiveness.
The Employer Review operates in a very similar fashion to the Academic Peer Review in that it is based on a global online survey. Respondents are again sourced through three key channels. Firstly, QS has an extensive corporate database; secondly, the powerful network of partners with which QS cooperates on its events around the world include a range of job sites and media focused on the private sector; and finally, beginning in 2007, participating institutions are invited to submit a list of contacts from companies with whom they work. Most effectively this would be principally comprised of employers that are known to have received graduates from the given institution. Both domestic and international employers can be included, multiple contacts from the same organisation can be included, public and private sector employers can be included.
Click here to preview Employer Survey
Again, a regional weigthing is applied to ensure equal representation from our 3 "super regions" of Americas; Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific.
In 2008 the questions respondents are asked regarding universities inside their own country and outside were separated. These are recombined after the responses are in using methods designed to reduce any response bias by country.
The response to the Employer Survey has been growing rapidly and in 2008 consists of over 2,000 respondents from employers worldwide and the results of the analysis upon it contributes 10% to the weighting of the overall ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions: Employer Review
-
What kind of organisations can be included in the Employer Review?
-
The important factors in the employer review relate to the knowledge and experience of the respondent more than the nature of the organisation for which they work. The pre-requisite is that they have personal experience of employing graduates from university and, therefore, carry educated opinion on the relative strength of graduates from different universities.
Organisations, therefore, can be large or small, domestic or multi-national, public or private sector, respondents can be located in the same country as the university or in others. A university will gain greatest advantage where they have a particularly strong or unique relationship with a responding employer. This is the reason why institutions with clear specialist strengths seem to perform particularly well in this indicator.
Category: Methodology: Employer Reviewxx
Submitting your vote...
-
Why was the Employer Review only added in 2005?
-
The four pillars (Research Quality, Teaching Quality, Graduate Employability and International Outlook) of the methodology were planned from the outset in 2004. Our initial attempt to survey employers in 2004, however, received insufficient response to be considered. In 2005 the response was better and it was felt appropriate to introduce a new indicator.
Since its introduction in 2005, response levels have grown rapidly due to the growing reputation of the project and the identification of additional channels through which to attract respondents.
Category: Methodology: Employer Reviewxx
Submitting your vote...
-
How do employers' opinions differ from the academics?
-
As the response levels for both surveys improve over time the correlation between the two sets of responses is strengthening. Apart from in certain industry sectors, employers tend to be less directly interested in the research strength of an institution, yet that still seems to correlate strongly with graduate employability.
In general, the highest potential university applicants are attracted to traditional, established universities that have built their reputation on excellent research. As a result, there tends to be a strong correlation between opinions of academics when being questioned about the quality of research output and those of employers when asked about the quality of graduates.
There have been many surveys carried out at a domestic level, however, that seem to suggest that many graduates, even from top universities, lack certain expected skills - certainly general work skills such as presentation skills, teamwork and time management - but in some areas numeracy and literacy as well.
In this area, institutions with specialist strengths seem to do well amongst employers who partner with them primarily in those areas - this seems to hold true particularly for institutions with specialist strengths in technology and social sciences.
Category: Methodology: Employer Reviewxx
Submitting your vote...
News: Employer Review
2008 Employer Review Response Analysis
The Employer Review was introduced in 2005 and currently forms 10% of the weightings applied by...