IE University, 19th worldwide for graduate employability in Times Higher Education Ranking 2021

Breaking into the top 20 for the first time, IE University continues to establish Spain as an international hub for higher education.

IE University, ranks 19th in the Global Employability University Ranking and Survey 2021 (GEURS), which is based solely on the view of employers and run by Times Higher Education (THE) and Emerging. This year’s results of the world’s top 250 universities show that, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, employers are increasingly seeking graduates with strong digital literacy and subject specialized skills.

“At IE University, we are committed to providing impactful career resources and tools to help our students and alumni plan, manage, and achieve their desired professional goals,” said Erik Schlie, Vice President of Global Alumni and Talent & Careers at IE University.

“Our stellar academic programs, hands-on faculty, and close relations with recruiters and HR managers at corporations and institutions around the world, give IE University alumni a boost when it comes to employability and standing out in a pool of qualified job candidates.”
Erik Schlie, Vice President of Global Alumni and Talent & Careers at IE University


The ranking surveyed international recruiters and is based on a framework of six key drivers identified by businesses as the main contributors to creating employable graduates: academic excellence: research output, quality of teaching staff; digital performance: innovative learning methods, specialist training on digital jobs; focus on work: entrepreneurial environment, relevant work experience as part of the curriculum; soft skills and digital literacy; internationalism: international curriculum and staff; and specialization: up-to-date technical or business expertise, relevant specialized research.

The global ranking furthers Spain’s, and Madrid’s in particular, growing reputation as an educational hub and follows the results of an earlier ranking conducted by THE and Emerging which analyzed the best academic institution in the world to train digital leaders that placed IE University as 24th amongst the world’s best universities for a digital education and 19th in the world for digital entrepreneurship.

IE University, began this most recent academic year with more than 8,000 students from over 140 countries and is expanding its double degree programs. Of these students, nearly 4,000 are studying at the IE Tower, the new technological and sustainable headquarters in Madrid, one of the first high-rise university centers in the world, with 180 meters, 35 floors, 50,000 m2 of floor space and 7,000 m2 of green areas. At the academic level, IE University, which also has campuses in downtown Madrid and Segovia, has prioritized face-to-face learning this year thanks to, in addition to rigorous safety measures and health protocols, the University’s newly designed Liquid Learning model, which allows students to attend classes in person or connect simultaneously with the same immersive experience and academic excellence from anywhere in the world.