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Higher education is more valuable than ever

Results of the Graduate Destinations 2006 survey have painted a positive picture for higher education graduates in Australia, showing that they have a notable labour market advantage.

The results show that 82.4 per cent of new bachelor degree graduates, who were seeking full-time employment, had found work within four months of completing their studies.

In addition, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from May 2006 show that just 2.4 per cent of people in the general population with bachelor degrees were unemployed, compared with 7.3 per cent of those who had not completed post-secondary education.

Each year, Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) surveys all new graduates of Australian higher education institutions regarding their activities after study. These include their employment, further study and labour market activities.

Other survey results have revealed that postgraduate study is more valuable than ever.

The Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) gathered 28 500 responses from postgraduates including those with graduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas, coursework masters degrees, research masters degrees, professional doctorates and PhDs. These findings and others are part of GCA’s latest annual report on postgraduates’ activities after course completion, Postgraduate Destinations 2006.

Some key findings were:

• The typical (median) annual salary for a new postgraduate was $60 000 in 2006, up by $1900 from 2005.
  • The median salary for graduates with graduate diploma/certificate awards was $55 000 (up from $54 000 in 2005).
  • The median salary for graduates with coursework masters awards was $65 000 (up from $63 000 in 2005).
  • The median salary for graduates with research masters/PhD awards was $60 700 (up from $59 000 in 2005).
• Postgraduates’ median salary was $18 000 more than the median salary of bachelor degree graduates in 2006 ($42 000), although it should be noted that as a group, postgraduates are older and have more work experience.
• In 2006 a higher proportion of postgraduates were in full-time employment, than in 2005 – of those available for full-time employment, 89.9 per cent of postgraduate respondents were working full-time.

GCA Executive Director Cindy Tilbrook, said there were many different motivations for people wanting to undertake postgraduate study.

‘As the number of bachelor degree graduates in Australia grows, some are undertaking postgraduate study in order to fine-tune their initial qualification or to differentiate themselves in a competitive labour market,’ she said.

‘Others go into further study to develop their careers with a current employer or as part of a career change process.’

When choosing a postgraduate study option, students need to consider many things including:

• the field of education or research offered,
• the flexibility of the degree,
• the level of award offered, and
• the cost of study.

Further information and detailed figures regarding postgraduate study can be found in GradsOnline, GCA’s searchable graduate destination database.

To learn more about postgraduate study at Deakin, visit the postgraduate website.