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

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.

Develop the skills top employers want while you study and get a digital certificate to boost your CV!

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 2023-34

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.

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.

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Global University Employability Ranking 2023-34

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

Rank 2023-24	Rank 2022-23	University	Countryregion
1	2	California Institute of Technology	US
2	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	US
3	5	Stanford University	US
4	4	University of Cambridge	UK
5	3	Harvard University	US
6	9	Princeton University	US
7	7	The University of Tokyo	Japan
8	6	University of Oxford	UK
9	8	National University of Singapore	Singapore
10	10	Yale University	US
11	16	Imperial College London	UK
12	11	University of Toronto	Canada
13	12	Technical University of Munich	Germany
14	14	Peking University	China
15	15	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
16	13	Columbia University	US
17	17	New York University	US
18	19	IE University	Spain
19	18	CentraleSupélec - Paris Saclay University	France
20	21	University of California, Berkeley	US
21	27	Tsinghua University	China
22	23	HEC Paris	France
23	20	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland
24	25	London School of Economics and Political Science	UK
25	22	Boston University	US
26	24	Carnegie Mellon University	US
27	28	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India
28	33	Ecole Polytechnique - Institut Polytechique de Paris	France
29	30	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
30	26	Duke University	US
31	29	McGill University	Canada
32	35	Australian National University	Australia
33	31	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan
34	34	Arizona State University (Tempe)	US
35	32	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
36	36	University of British Columbia	Canada
37	37	University of Navarra	Spain
38	42	Kyoto University	Japan
39	43	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
40	40	Technion Israel Institute of Technology	Israel
41	49	London Business School	UK
42	38	Johns Hopkins University	US
43	47	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
44	41	EMLyon Business School	France
45	45	University of Melbourne	Australia
46	48	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
47	44	KU Leuven	Belgium
48	39	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands
49	90	The University of Chicago	US
50	52	Sorbonne University	France
51	51	Fudan University	China
52	50	Mines Paris - PSL University	France
53	54	LMU Munich	Germany
54	46	Georgia Institute of Technology	US
55	58	Indian Institute of Science	India
56	53	Technical University of Berlin	Germany
57	55	ESSEC Business School	France
58	57	EDHEC Business School	France
59	56	University of Sydney	Australia
60	74	Dartmouth College	US
61	60	Bocconi University	Italy
62	72	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (ITT)	India
63	70	ESCP Business School	France
64	65	Seoul National University	South Korea
65	68	Université Paris-Saclay	France
66	69	University of Zurich	Switzerland
67	75	University of Manchester	UK
68	64	King's College London	UK
69	66	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel
70	73	Heidelberg University	Germany
71	61	University of Helsinki	Finland
72	63	University of Montreal/HEC	Canada
73	62	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
74	59	Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay - Paris Saclay University	France
75	67	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)	South Korea
76	71	Stockholm University	Sweden
77	76	Florida Institute of Technology	US
78	83	Brown University	US
79	82	Frankfurt School of Finance & Management	Germany
80	85	National Taiwan University	Taiwan
81	78	Monterrey Institute of Technology	Mexico
82	80	University of California, Los Angeles	US
83	79	University of Science and Technology of China	China
84	77	Cornell University	US
85	81	McMaster University	Canada
86	86	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech)	Taiwan
87	84	University of Auckland	New Zealand
88	112	Zhejiang University	China
89	87	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
90	91	Tel Aviv University	Israel
91	88	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark
92	94	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
93	89	Hanyang University	South Korea
94	96	Leiden University	Netherlands
95	99	Polytechnic University of Milan	Italy
96	98	Free University of Berlin	Germany
97	93	University of Vienna	Austria
98	97	The University of Queensland	Australia
99	95	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
100	92	Sungkyunkwan University	South Korea
101	107	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany
102	102	University of Oslo	Norway
103	108	University of São Paulo	Brazil
104	103	Korea University	South Korea
105	101	Utrecht University	Netherlands
106	104	Yonsei University	South Korea
107	100	Tufts University	US
108	106	Karolinska Institute	Sweden
109	110	Rice University	US
110	105	University of Lausanne	Switzerland
111	111	UNSW Sydney	Australia
112	114	University of Hamburg	Germany
113	109	Monash University	Australia
114	118	University of Bern	Switzerland
115	115	Texas A&M University	US
116	116	Chalmers University of Technology	Sweden
117	117	University of Basel	Switzerland
118	118	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands
119	113	Aarhus University	Denmark
120	131	Arts et Métiers	France
121	121	University of Pennsylvania	US
122	132	Autonomous University of Barcelona	Spain
123	127	Chemnitz University of Technology	Germany
124	120	RWTH Aachen University	Germany
125	126	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
126	143	Boston College	US
127	123	National Autonomous University of Mexico	Mexico
128	129	Ghent University	Belgium
129	124	Waseda University	Japan
130	125	Keio University	Japan
131	133	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
132	142	Nanjing University	China
133	135	Autonomous University of Madrid	Spain
134	140	Goethe University Frankfurt	Germany
135	139	University of Buenos Aires	Argentina
136	136	Carlos III University of Madrid	Spain
137	128	UCL	UK
138	134	Northwestern University	US
139	138	University of St Andrews	UK
140	141	University of Mannheim	Germany
141	143	Paris Dauphine University - PSL University	France
142	149	University of Cologne	Germany
143	155	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	India
144	156	École des Ponts ParisTech	France
145	130	Michigan State University	US
146	147	Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)	China
147	137	University of Edinburgh	UK
148	152	Nagoya University	Japan
149	148	Northeastern University	US
150	158	Complutense University of Madrid	Spain
151	145	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	US
152	162	Qatar University	Qatar
153	150	Georgetown University	US
154	146	American University of Beirut	Lebanon
155	153	Harbin Institute of Technology	China
156	154	Indian Institute of Management	India
157	176	University of California, San Francisco	US
158	164	Osaka University	Japan
159	151	Aalto University	Finland
160	159	Norwegian University of Science and Technology	Norway
161	160	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
162	165	TU Wien	Austria
163	166	University of Southern California	US
164	163	Tongji University	China
165	161	University of Iceland	Iceland
166	168	University of Antwerp	Belgium
167	178	Universitat Ramon Llul	Spain
168	171	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	US
169	172	University of Alberta	Canada
170	200	Huazhong University of Science and Technology	China
171	173	University of Chile	Chile
172	194	Emory University	US
173	169	University of Geneva	Switzerland
174	188	University of California, San Diego	US
175	179	Abu Dhabi University	UAE
176	186	Babson College	US
177	185	American University in Dubai	UAE
178	175	University of Ottawa	Canada
179	167	University of Florida	US
180	157	University of Birmingham	UK
181	170	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
182	174	Purdue University West Lafayette	US
183	181	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	US
184	182	King Abdulaziz University	Saudi Arabia
185	183	University of Victoria	Canada
186	184	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
187	187	King Saud University	Saudi Arabia
188	177	Rutgers University	US
189	198	Cardiff University	UK
190	191	University of Waterloo	Canada
191	180	Macquarie University	Australia
192	199	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
193	196	Université du Québec	Canada
194	193	Penn State University (Main campus)	US
195	NR	Toronto Metropolitan University	Canada
196	189	George Washington University	US
197	197	Case Western Reserve University	US
198	NR	Beijing Normal University	China
199	202	Trinity College Dublin	Ireland
200	215	National Tsing Hua University	Taiwan
201	195	University of Georgia	US
202	203	Vanderbilt University	US
203	189	Durham University	UK
204	204	University of Bergen	Norway
205	212	Istanbul Technical University	Turkey
206	209	Queensland University of Technology	Australia
207	214	University of Gothenburg	Sweden
208	NR	University of Bonn	Germany
209	206	Aalborg University	Denmark
210	219	Copenhagen Business School	Denmark
211	220	Charles University	Czech Republic
212	210	Scuola Normale Superiore de Pisa	Italy
213	218	Bar-Ilan University	Israel
214	216	Uppsala University	Sweden
215	223	Télécom Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France
216	208	University of Bologna	Italy
217	226	Ecole Centrale de Lyon	France
218	NR	University of Freiburg	Germany
219	205	Sabanci University	Turkey
220	225	Amity University	India
221	232	Technical University of Darmstadt	Germany
222	201	Leibniz University Hannover	Germany
223	238	Aix-Marseille University	France
224	229	University of Notre Dame	US
225	242	Bangalore University	India
226	234	Bielefeld University	Germany
227	NR	University of Barcelona	Spain
228	NR	Washington University in St Louis	US
229	239	Tokyo University of Science	Japan
230	NR	Wuhan University	China
231	243	Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina	Argentina
232	221	University of Malaya	Malaysia
233	240	Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV)	Brazil
234	NR	Tohoku University	Japan
235	NR	Indian Institute of Technology Madras	India
236	236	Skema Business School	France
237	NR	University of Delhi	India
238	233	University of Guadalajara	Mexico
239	NR	University of Massachusetts Amherst	US
240	NR	Université Grenoble Alpes	France
241	NR	University of Milan	Italy
242	NR	University of Lisbon	Portugal
243	211	Brandeis University	US
244	NR	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	Greece
245	NR	University of Cape Town	South Africa
246	NR	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	US
247	NR	University of Indonesia	Indonesia
248	NR	Hassan II University of Casablanca	Morocco
249	248	Cairo University	Egypt
250	245	Stellenbosch University	South Africa