Australia’s Business Schools

Australian business school graduates are in demand.

• 74.3% of undergraduate business and management students had gained full-time employment in 2020⁵
• In a longitudinal study of business and management undergraduate students, 79.3% of business and management undergraduates were employed in 2017, increasing to 92.9% in 2020⁶
• Australian business postgraduate students, compared to other postgraduate students, are more likely to gain full-time employment and earn the highest starting salaries four months after graduation⁷
• Australian business and accounting students, compared to other students, are more likely to have secured full-time employment before graduating with a bachelor’s degree (at 23% and 30% respectively compared to 17% for all graduates)⁸

Australian business schools contribute significantly to the third largest export industry (and largest export service industry) in Australia.

• Business schools graduate more than one third of the international university students in Australia ¹ 
• International education is Australia’s third largest export¹⁰ and largest service export valued  at $37.5 billion in 2018-19.

Australian business school graduates greatly contribute to Australian leadership and economic growth.

More than two-thirds of Australia’s top 50 CEOs have a business qualification with:

• Two in five holding an undergraduate business degree
• One in five holding an MBA¹¹

Subject Rankings

[1] Australian Government, Department of Education, Skills and Employment. Selected Higher Education Statistics. 2019 student data

[2] US News Best Global Universities Ranking for Economics and Business

[3] 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject: business and economics

[4] Academic Ranking of Work Universities, ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020 – Business Administration

[5] QILT 2020 Graduate Outcomes Survey Results

[6] QILT 2020 Graduate Outcomes Survey Results – Longitudinal Results

[7] QS Global 250 Business Schools Report 2017. http://www.topmba.com/why-mba/publications/global-250-business-schools-report-2017

[8] Graduate Careers Australia (GCA), Beyond Graduation 2015, p.19 and p.21. (Calculations are for four months after graduation and for ‘management and commerce’ versus the median for all disciplines at postgraduate level, equating to $18,000 more at $92,000 and increasing to $110,000 three years later).

[9] Department of Education and Training, ‘Completion Count by ‘Management and Commerce’ Field of Education, Higher Education Statistics Data Cube (uCube) 2015 – 56% of all university completions by overseas students in 2015 were from a management, commerce or economics discipline. This figure equals completion figures for management and commerce, http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/

[10] Australian Bureau of Statistics International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia, Dec 2018

[11] Suncorp Bank, ‘Power Index‘, August 2012. Survey of the CEOs of the 50 largest ASX-listed companies. 68% have a business qualification; 40% have an undergraduate business degree and 22% hold an MBA.

[12] https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/accounting-finance 

[13] https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/country/australia/subject/business-management-studies

[14] https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/economics-econometrics