82% of UVic bachelor's degree students find work six months after completing their studies, and 88% have a job within three years

82% of UVic bachelor's degree students have found work six months after completing their studies. This figure rises to 100% among graduates in Mechatronics Engineering, Multimedia Engineering, Nursing and Human Nutrition and Dietetics, which are above the Catalan average, and reaches 95% for Business Administration and Management, 92% for Advertising and Public Relations, and 90% for Physiotherapy. Those are just some of the figures included in the latest report by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU), which looks at employment among university students who graduated in 2016.

The report focuses on the employment situation of the graduates from Catalan universities at two specific points in time: half a year after completing their studies, and three years after finishing them. In this latter situation - after three years - the levels of employment among UVic graduates rise to 88%. The percentages are above the Catalan average for some bachelor's degrees, such as Business Administration and Management, Human Nutrition and Dietetics and Translation and Interpretation, which have an employability level of 100%, and Audiovisual Communication (94%). The bachelor's degrees in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences and Biotechnology also have employment levels of 94%, which is very close to the 97% for employment for Nursing graduates, 93% for the bachelor's degrees in Physiotherapy, Early Childhood Education and Primary School Teaching, and 92% for Advertising and Public Relations.

The survey is carried out every three years in order to provide the Catalan universities with data and benchmarks for the quality of graduates' employment levels. The most recent survey was performed by telephone in 2020, using a sample of 50% of the population. The analysis covers about twenty of the UVic degree courses.

The respondents were asked about factors related to employment and its quality, as well as related to their satisfaction with their studies. This is the seventh time that the report has been published, and together with the data collected in previous editions, it is now one of the most comprehensive databases on employment after university in Europe.

A job appropriate for studies

The report also shows that UVic graduates in Multimedia (100%), Physiotherapy (97%), Biology (88%), Nursing (100%) and Primary School Teaching (97%) have the jobs that are most appropriate to their training, and the latter three are above the average levels for Catalonia.

The degree of satisfaction among UVic graduates with their job is generally high. In the report, the alumni from ten of the degree courses rate their current job with a score higher than 8. The levels of satisfaction among Early Childhood Education (9.01) and Social Education professionals (8.47) are particularly high, with scores that are above average compared to graduates from other Catalan universities.

Meanwhile, according to the study, the degree courses leading to the greatest job stability are in the field of engineering. 100% of the graduates in Mechatronics and in Multimedia not only have a job, but also have permanent and full-time employment contracts and salaries well above average levels, of 2,365 and 2,250 Euros respectively. This figure is very close to the average of 2,240 Euros earned by UVic graduates in Business Administration and Management, of whom 84% have permanent and full-time contracts.  In the case of Biotechnology, the monthly earnings also exceed the threshold of 2,000 Euros (averaging 2,112 Euros), although permanent contracts are not as common in this case.

Good results for the quality of training

The report also takes into account satisfaction with the training received, and the quality that the graduates attribute to it. For UVic, 82% of the respondents say they would study at the same university again. This figure reaches 100% for of Multimedia Engineering, and 95% for the bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Translation and Interpretation, 95% for Early Childhood Education, 90% for Primary School Teaching, and 89% for Occupational Therapy. Furthermore, over 75% say they would do the same studies again.

The most highly rated areas in the training are IT skills and languages, creativity and practical training.