Universities are judged on the jobs their graduates get and as the demand driven system pumps out more people the employment return on study will matter ever-more. Universities who get this are already investing in services from job-placement to employment skills. And industry is watching who is doing what.

Like Deakin University, voted employment service of the year in the career service category at the Australian Association of Graduate Employers awards. Deakin’s TALENT platform connects graduates and students with employers. The university also has a gradate recruitment team. It’s part of a major investment in employment outcomes, as , PVC Graduate Employment Dineli Mather told CMM last year, “graduate employability is the defining challenge for universities in Australia and across the world,” (CMM March 3 2016).

Deakin won at AAGE ahead of RMIT, University of Queensland, University of South Australia and University of Technology, Sydney.

Last year the University of Queensland won, with finalists being RMIT, and the universities of Adelaide and Wollongong.