Wits recognised for graduate employability and wealth

The Global Employability University Ranking is a list of the top universities as selected by more than 5,000 recruiters, including CEOs and chairmen, from top companies in 30 countries, who were asked to rank universities based on the employability of their graduates. Each had 10 votes to cast and could also add additional universities. Wits came in at 139 on the list.

Wits is also ranked 57th in the world for producing the most number of alumni millionaires according to a study compiled for Spear's Magazine. Wits came in ahead of the University of Colorado (58), Brown University (63), the London Business School (64), Stanford Business School (68), Monash University in Australia (74) and the University of Cape Town (80).

The study also lists which subjects produced the most millionaires, with engineering coming first, followed by an MBA, economics and law - although according to Spear's, millionaires produced by these subjects have often left their degrees behind in professional life.

This follows on the Times Higher Education ranking of universities that produce the most number of CEOs. Titled the THE Alma Mater Index: Global Executives, the ranking puts Wits at 24 in the world (they list the top 100) placed above prestigious institutions such as New York University, Korea University, the University of Stuttgart and Texas A&M University.

Highest ranked African institution

Wits is the highest ranked African institution on the list. The University of Cape Town, the only other African university on the list, came in at number 79.

"It is gratifying to know that as a university at the heart of the national and continental economy, Wits continues to provide the world with a growing cohort of world-class African CEOs," said Professor Adam Habib, Wits vice-chancellor and principal.

The Global Employability University Ranking forms part of the Global Employability Survey, an online survey conducted in 20 countries worldwide with the objective of describing the ideal university from a corporate perspective.

One of the trends picked up by the Global Employability University Ranking is the breakthrough of a number of Chinese universities (five noted with two in the top 50) while universities from other Asian countries make their first appearance: three from Hong Kong, two from Singapore, and two from South Korea. India went from one to three universities with a very strong performance from the Indian Institute of Science.

Another new trend is the phenomenon known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), which are online programmes made available by universities. The recruiters who were surveyed said they felt certain that this new form of higher education would have a great impact on the economic model of universities since it was bound to reduce a university's financial burden.