15 December 2005

University of Queensland graduates under the age of 25 and available for full-time work have again achieved outstanding employment rates and high graduate salaries.

Graduate Careers Australia’s Graduate Destination Survey 2005 released on December 13 reveals that University of Queensland graduates continued to be highly sought by employers.

In the national performance figures compiled by the Federal Government, the University had achieved a full-time employment rate for bachelor degree graduates for 2004 of 85.4 percent against the national full-time employment figure of 80.9 percent.

Over an extended period, the University has had 5 percent of its graduates recorded as unemployed and seeking full-time employment in the Graduate Destination Survey.

UQ graduates reported high full-time employment rates in fields such as Medicine (100 percent); Pharmacy (97 percent); Veterinary Science (92 percent); Speech Pathology (80.7 percent); Physiotherapy (78 percent).

UQ bachelor degree graduates in their first full-time employment (and under 25 years of age) reported starting salaries similar to the national median starting salaries of $40,000 for males (UQ $40,000) and $39,000 for females (UQ $36,000).

Of those in their first full-time employment, the higher end salaries included commerce, mining engineering, mechanical and space engineering, and business management/economics.

Pilot (B Commerce) = $120,000
Mining Engineer (B Eng (Mining) = $95,000
Analyst (BCom/BEcon) = $92,500
Project Engineer (B Eng (Mechanical & Space) = $90,500
Manager Strategic Development (B BusMan/BEcon) = $80,000

The figures for UQ bachelor degree graduates in further full-time study represented 34 percent against a national figure of 22.5 percent.

Media: Further information, Jan King 0413 601 248.