Job fair (photo by Nazareth College, used under CC license)

In its Global University Employability Ranking 2016, released yesterday, Times Higher Education (THE) has listed the top 150 universities that deliver work-ready graduates. The survey was designed by French human resources company Emerging, and published exclusively by THE.

In the top slot is the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and Stanford University. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, bagged the 38th spot. The full listing can be found here.

THE reported Wolfgang Herrmann, president of the Technical University of Munich (TUM made the top 10) as attributing its success to its relationships with industry. Bavaria, the state in Germany where Munich is located, is home to companies such as Audi, BMW, Grundig, and Siemens, provides students valuable opportunities and exposure. “There is no other technical university that has such a rich economic  environment and especially a technical economic environment [as] we do here in Munich,” THE quoted Herrmann as saying.

The report also quoted Stanford’s associate of career education Brett Alpert (who also heads its employer engagement program), as saying, “It is important for students entering today’s workplace to connect with many different people, from a range of professions, in order to discover potential areas of interest and opportunities in fields that they may not have initially considered.” He adds that a broad-based curriculum helps students develop the combination of leadership skills, critical thinking skills and technical expertise, which enable them to succeed not only in their career but also in life more generally.

File photo of summer intern Steven Jacque, a student of Purdue University (photo by Argonne National Laboratory, used under CC license)

The ranking is based on a survey of two panels representing 20 countries, including India. One panel was of management-level recruiters with experience of hiring or working with graduates. Its members were chosen based on the number of university students, GDP and number of institutions in each country. The second panel consisted of managing directors of international companies. The survey data was aggregated into scores to produce the ranking.