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UNSW graduates named most employable four years in a row

33 UNSW Sydney students are listed in the Top100 Future Leaders Awards.

Published on the 10 Feb 2023 by Yolande Hutchinson
Daniel Purchas, General Manager at GradConnection, UNSW Professor Louise Lutze-Mann, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education & Student Experience and UNSW Professor Leanne Piggott, Director of Experience. Photo: UNSW.

For the fourth consecutive year, UNSW Sydney has been named ‘AFR Most Employable University’ at the 2023 Top100 Future Leaders Awards. Thirty-three UNSW students were named as most employable students, the highest of any university.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Quality, Professor Merlin Crossley congratulated the UNSW students who made the list.

“I’m so happy for all those UNSW students just recognised in the Top 100 Future Leaders Competition. What a huge honour to be identified as the top emerging talent in Australia.

“UNSW takes great pride in supporting students to develop their skills, experiences, and knowledge to ensure they secure rewarding jobs in the future. We offer programs spanning career coaching to developing industry partnerships, to assist students at the beginning of their career journey,” Prof. Crossley said.

The Top100 Awards, hosted by GradConnection, The Australian Financial Review and Chandler Macleod, aims to identify Australia’s top future graduate talents. Students take part in a highly competitive graduate recruitment process, including interviews with some of Australia’s top employers.

UNSW Head of Employability James Meade said that he was thrilled so many UNSW students had been recognised.

“It’s great to see so many UNSW students perform well in the competition which involves academic, professional, and interpersonal skills.  At UNSW, across each of our faculties, we offer work-integrated-learning and leadership development courses, and coaching and mentoring programs, that help our students to realise their unique potential.”

Five UNSW students in the Top100 were also category winners of highly competitive employer awards, out of 12 available awards.

  • Transition Hub First in Family Top100 Future Leader Award - Saraa Al-Saddik
  • EY Innovation Top100 Future Leader Award - Lauren Richardson
  • Suncorp Resilient Communities Top100 Future Leader Award - Oscar Mason
  • Unilever Sales and Marketing Top100 Future Leader Award - Rayanne Haidar
  • Coles IT Top100 Future Leader Award - Natalie Leroy

Current Master of Global Health/Master of Public Health, UNSW Medicine & Health student Lauren Richardson said: “This award means everything – I loved uni and really thrived at UNSW. It’s been phenomenal. The honours year really set me up on a path for my future in public health. UNSW has a great culture, and lots of flexibility.”

Lauren Richardson and Leanne Piggott.

UNSW student Lauren Richardson with Professor Leanne Piggott. Photo: UNSW.

Other UNSW students to reach the Top 100 Future Leaders list were: Adam Witt, Amanda Lao, Angus Cheng, Dani Lee, Daniel Wark, Edwin Huang, Eileen Li, Elise Elkington, Emily McKnight, Grace Lam, Harrison Wong, Helen Zhang, Ishan Karunanayake, James Layland, Jason Ly, Jessica Mackay, Jessica Zhang, Kenuka Wijayatunga, Kerisha Parkes, Kristina Hua, Mariessa Lai, Matthew Kuk, Michelle Huynh, Oltan Sevinc, Palaash Rawat, Sarah Khan, Tony Wu and Victoria Gao.

UNSW has received the AFR Most Employable University award for the previous three years, with 37, 27 and 42 students named respectively as Most Employable Students.

The UNSW Business School Most Popular Business and Commerce Employer was awarded to KPMG and the UNSW Most Popular Graduate Employer was awarded to Deloitte.