A new survey reveals that international students graduating in fields like healthcare and engineering are seeing the highest job placement rates in Australia.
According to new data from the 2023 Graduate Outcomes Survey, international students graduating in fields such as health care, mathematics, engineering, and computer science have the highest chances of finding jobs shortly after graduation, depending on their level of study.
According to the survey sponsored by the Australian Department of Education, the top five undergraduate fields with the highest employment rates for international graduates 4-6 months after graduation are pharmacy, rehabilitation, heath services and support, artchitecture and built environment, and business and management.
| Rank | Field | Employment rate after 4-6 months |
| 1 | Pharmacy | 90.3% |
| 2 | Rehabilitation | 77.8% |
| 3 | Health Services and Support | 60.5% |
| 4 | Architecture and Built Environment | 49% |
| 5 | Business and Management | 48.1% |
After three years, pharmacy, rehabilitation, and health support services continue to top the list with employment rates around 92-95%.
The top five fields with the highest employment rates after three years also include nursing and engineering, both with rates above 89%, replacing business and management, and architecture.
| TT | Field (Postgraduate) | Employment Rate after 3 Years |
| 1 | Health Services and Support | 94.9% |
| 2 | Rehabilitation | 93.5% |
| 3 | Pharmacy | 92.6% |
| 4 | Nursing | 89.5% |
| 5 | Engineering | 89% |
At the postgraduate level (master’s, doctorate), health-related fields also lead in terms of international students’ employment rates three years after graduation.
For postgraduate research programs, science and engineering fields have higher employment rates.
| Rank | Field (Postgraduate) | Employment rate after 3 years | Rank | Field (Postgraduate Research) | Employment rate after 3 years |
| 1 | Medicine | 100% | 1 | Science and Mathematics | 93.6% |
| 2 | Rehabilitation | 93% | 2 | Engineering | 92.1% |
| 3 | Architecture and Built Environment | 92.9% | 3 | Health Services and Support | 90.9% |
| 4 | Nursing | 92.2% | 4 | Humanities, Culture, and Social Sciences | 89.7% |
| 5 | Agriculture and Environmental Studies | 91.3% | 5 | Computer Science and Information Systems | 88.5% |
The survey reveals that international students tend to focus on fields like business and management, computer and information systems, engineering, science and mathematics, and nursing.
This trend varies by degree level, with more than 50% of undergraduate international students surveyed coming from business, nursing, and engineering fields.
For postgraduate students, 60% of respondents were graduates of business, engineering, computer science, and information systems. Among research-focused postgraduates (master’s and PhD), most graduated in science and mathematics, followed by engineering and humanities, culture, and social sciences.
In 2023, their average salaries ranged from US$42,000 to over US$60,000.
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| Students of Monash University during their graduation day in Setpember 2023. Photo courtesy of the university |
The 2023 GOS survey, conducted online, included responses from over 40,000 international students from 116 higher education institutions. These individuals had previously participated in the survey when they graduated in 2020.
Latest data from the Australian Department of Education on Nov. 1 shows that by the end of August, Australia had nearly 970,000 international students at various educational levels, marking an 11% increase compared to the same period last year.
Among them, nearly 36,500 are Vietnamese students, representing a 27% increase, making them the fifth-largest group after students from China, India, Nepal, and the Philippines.
