All the QS Employability Rankings positions are allocated according to five evaluation criteria: reputation among employers (30% of the total score), graduate achievement (25% of the total score), university-employer cooperation (25% of the total score), student-employer cooperation (10% of the total score) and the employability of the graduates (10% of the total score).
Increases student opportunities
Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) achieved the best results according to the criterion of cooperation between students and employers. This criterion assesses the number of companies actively involved in the life of university students, e.g. presenting information about career opportunities on the campus and creating opportunities for promoting cooperation between students and potential employers.
Such involvement and active representation of employers also increases students’ chances of finding work placements or developing targeted research activities.
According to Lolita Jurkšienė, Director of the KTU Performance Management Department, the involvement of employers is measured in various forms – static advertisement and active involvement in study and research activities, as well as presentation of the company at various University events are counted.
“In our case, KTU Career Days organised for the 17th time this year, play an important role. Today, KTU Career Days have already become one of the largest career planning events in the Baltic States, annually inviting many companies and current and future students to meet, get to know each other and establish productive professional relationships. It is also very important that every year many international companies operating in Lithuania and foreign students studying in our country join this event,” says Jurkšienė.
A good name does not guarantee a career
For many years, the University is focusing on building high quality and mutually beneficial cooperation relationships with companies in Lithuania and abroad. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that KTU achieved excellent positions in terms of university-employer cooperation. According to this criterion, KTU ranks 201+.
The same, 201+ position, KTU achieved yet in another important criterion, i.e. – assessing the employability of graduates. The criterion, while seemingly simple enough, actually responds to one of the main objectives of this ranking, which is to reveal how universities are succeeding in promoting the employability of their graduates.
According to Mindaugas Šatas, a data analyst at KTU’s Strategy Monitoring and Processes Division, students should not choose universities only by their name – other aspects have to be evaluated also.
“According to the organisers of the ranking, experience shows that often the fact that a student graduates from a university that has been labelled prestigious does not ensure a successful career. Therefore, in a sense, this ranking helps students to have a glimpse into their career prospects,” says Šatas.
The results of the new QS Graduate Employability Rankings complement those of national rankings of Lithuanian higher education institutions and colleges organised by the magazine “Reitingai” and published in May 2021. In these rankings, KTU stood out as a university providing the competencies that are of utmost importance in the contemporary job market – more than 80% of the surveyed employers indicated that KTU graduates meet the needs of today’s companies.
This year, the annual KTU WANTed Career Days will take place on October 27. Last year, 50 Lithuanian and international companies presented themselves at the virtual event; from over 10 thousand participants 500 received job and internship offers.
