Resources sector Queensland’s silver lining for graduate employment

October 01, 2012

Queensland graduates from the fields of engineering and technology experienced some of the highest rates of employment in Australia, according to the Good Universities Guide 2013.

In the midst of Queensland’s high rates of unemployment and public service job cuts, the Guide found that, on average, 89 per cent of the state’s engineering and technology graduates found employment within four months of graduating, which is considerably higher than the national average of 80 per cent in the engineering and technology field.

The Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University, Professor Sarah Harding, believes that the university’s regional locations and student cohort may have played a part in its 92 per cent employment rate for engineering and technology graduates.

‘Most of our students are from northern Queensland regions and, coupled with being trained at a regionally based university, they are perhaps more suitable for employment in the mining industry and more able to cope with the lifestyle of the remote mining sites,’ she said.

Professor Harding also noted that the strength of the mining sector should help offset any decline in the state’s overall employment rate.

The University of Southern Queensland’s engineering and technology employment prospects were also among the strongest in the Guide, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas believes that this is enticing students from elsewhere in Australia to study in Queensland.

‘With the burgeoning resources boom in south-west Queensland and the rich agricultural, mining and industry investment that already figures significantly in the economic future of Queensland, more students are being drawn to Queensland, where career prospects and advancement are assured,’ said Professor Thomas.

The state’s strong employment prospects for engineering and technology graduates present a strong argument for interstate students considering a career in these areas to complete their studies in Queensland.

The University of the Sunshine Coast introduced a civil engineering degree in 2008 and a mechanical engineering degree this year in response to the growing demand. USC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Birgit Lohmann, said that there is now a strong interest in engineering on the Sunshine Coast, with almost 170 students enrolled across the programs.

The employment situation is less optimistic in other sectors such as tourism and hospitality, despite tourism making up one of the ‘four pillars’ of the state’s economy. The Good Universities Guide showed that, on average, 41 per cent of Queensland’s tourism and hospitality graduates were still seeking work four months after graduating, which is higher than the national average of 36 per cent.

Professor Lohmann said that the state government’s recognition of tourism as one of the state’s key industries was a positive move, despite recent setbacks to Queensland’s tourism industry.

‘It means we might expect a new focus on and increased investment in tourism, leading to better graduate employment outcomes in the future,’ she said.

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