Swinburne recognised as top Australian university for employability in Higher Education Awards

Swinburne University of Technology’s groundbreaking Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program has been named a winner in the employability category at the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Awards 2024.

With 100 per cent of undergraduate courses now containing fully scaffolded WIL from first year to graduation, Swinburne is building on six decades of work in this space to ensure our students graduate with the skills and experience to succeed in today’s competitive labour market.

Accepting the award at the ceremony in Sydney last night, Swinburne Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Pascale Quester said the award recognises the industry-leading success Swinburne has achieved to produce job-ready graduates.

“More than 12,000 undergraduate students have completed in excess of 50,000 WIL experiences with one of 2,500 partners. Swinburne students are graduating with much more than just a piece of paper,” Professor Quester said.

“The results speak for themselves. 35 per cent of our placement students and 20 per cent of our internship students are offered employment directly from their WIL experience”.

“This award demonstrates the impact of Swinburne’s high-quality WIL program on graduate outcomes and is a testament to our WIL coordinators who work every day to boost employment outcomes for our students.”

Swinburne Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Pascale Quester and Employability Director Ruth Bridgstock were joined by Swinburne’s WIL team and industry partners at the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Awards 2024 where the university won the employability category.

Developing career-ready graduates

Swinburne’s ambitious commitment to guaranteeing real work experience for every learner is the first Moonshot in our Horizon 2025 strategic plan.

The Swinburne Work Integrated Learning Transformation Program was launched in 2020 to achieve this Moonshot, bringing staff, students, alumni and industry partners together to create a lasting and sustainable WIL ecosystem at scale.

It is a scaffolded model where students are supported by dedicated WIL coordinators in their discipline areas to guide them and grow their professional experience through placements, internships, projects and study tours.

Students are exposed to WIL throughout their course, starting with industry briefs at the beginning of their course, building to placements, internships and industry or capstone projects which happen toward the end of their course.

This approach provides a framework for learning as students build and strengthen their understanding. Professor Quester said the university is proud of the program’s success.

“Our students feel more career ready and have significantly higher job satisfaction, while employers get more qualified graduates and are able to meet skills shortages.”

“Our Swinterns deliver real value to our industry partners, just as they themselves offer deeply relevant practical learning to our students. It is truly a co-created education model, built for and around the learner, at every stage of their qualification.”

“It is a win-win. We hear this time and time again from both students and employers.”

The program has seen the embedding of WIL into all Swinburne courses and 860 units in total, with many students graduating with multiple WIL experiences.

“Swinburne’s commitment to work integrated learning is underpinned by our strong, long-standing industry partnerships, which is central to its success,” Professor Quester said.

“We are always exploring new models for WIL that emphasise student innovation, enterprise capabilities and digital technology skills.”

Swinburne Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) (Honours) students Andrea Kew (pictured, right) and Thomas Horrigan were hired to design a tram wrap for Tradeswomen Australia and Yarra Trams.

Andrea and Thomas’ story: A tram-load of industry experience before graduation

When Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) (Honours) students Andrea Kew and Thomas Horrigan first saw their design rolling through the city, the whole of Melbourne was seeing it too, on a tram.

In partnership with Yarra Trams, Tradeswomen Australia briefed Andrea and Thomas to design a tram wrap promoting trades careers for women.

Working within the Design Bureau – Swinburne’s student-led design studio where industry projects are embedded into coursework – the team set about designing something with real purpose and potential impact.

Tradeswomen Australia were thrilled with the tram wrap and the message it transported across Melbourne.

As for Andrea and Thomas, they haven’t even graduated yet, but they’ve already got a tram-load of industry experience in their portfolios.

“It's definitely surreal to have a project that other people see and not solely for the portfolio – and the fact that the client is real,” Andrea said.