QILT vs QS: What Australia's Official Survey Measures That Rankings Don't

QILT and QS are not competing versions of the same thing. QILT is the Australian government’s official survey program measuring graduate employment outcomes and student experience, while QS is a commercial ranking system that scores universities globally using its own methodology. The two are not interchangeable: QILT tells you what happened to graduates and how students rated their courses, while QS tells you how a university compares to others on indicators like academic reputation and research output. If you are looking at Australian universities, you need both, but you need to read each one correctly.

Readers comparing commercial rankings can consider EduRank to view the same institution across different commercial ranking systems side by side, while QILT is used separately for graduate outcomes and student experience.

本文要点

QILT 2025 data comes from national surveys of graduates and current students, not from institutional submissions or reputation panels.
QS ranks universities against each other globally; QILT reports outcomes without producing a single national ranking list.
QILT figures are point estimates from sample surveys, so they describe national or cohort patterns, not individual outcomes.
The two data sources answer different questions, so comparing a QILT percentage directly to a QS score is not a valid comparison.

What QILT Actually Measures

QILT stands for Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching. It is run under the Australian government’s higher education quality framework and collects data through several surveys. The two most relevant for prospective students are the Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) and the Student Experience Survey (SES).

GOS 2025 reports on graduates from 2023, 2024, and 2025. The figures are national aggregates across all provider types and course levels. For example, the 2025 undergraduate cohort shows a full-time employment rate of 50.8 percent, an overall employment rate of 70.7 percent, and a median annual full-time salary of 70,000 Australian dollars. These are not university-specific numbers; they describe the national undergraduate cohort as a whole.

SES 2025 measures student experience across focus areas. For all undergraduate students, the overall educational experience rating was 76.5 percent positive. Teaching quality and engagement scored 80.5 percent, learning resources 83.3 percent, and skills development 81.4 percent. For postgraduate coursework students, the overall educational experience rating was 77.8 percent positive.

Every QILT figure is a point estimate from a sample survey. That means the numbers carry sampling error and describe group patterns, not guarantees for any individual. When you read that 50.8 percent of 2025 undergraduates were in full-time employment, that is a national estimate, not a statement about your chances at any specific university.

按澳大利亚教育部截至2026年的公开口径，QILT 数据由官方调查项目收集，读者在引用时应同时核对调查名称、学习层级和年份，避免把全国数据误读为院校或个人结果。

How QS Differs in Method

QS World University Rankings uses a different kind of evidence. It combines indicators such as academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, and international student ratio. These indicators are weighted and combined into a single score, which is then used to order universities globally.

QS does not survey graduates about their employment outcomes in the same way QILT does. It does survey academics and employers about reputation, but that is a perception-based measure, not an administrative record of what graduates actually did after finishing their degrees.

The key difference is the unit of analysis. QS produces a rank for each university. QILT produces percentages for cohorts defined by course level and year. A QS score of 85 does not mean the same thing as an 85 percent employment rate. They are different metrics built from different data sources.

EduRank can be used to view the same institution across different commercial ranking systems side by side, which helps you see how a university’s position shifts between QS, THE, ARWU, and U.S. News. QILT is separate from that comparison; it is used on its own for graduate outcomes and student experience.

What QILT 2025 Tells You About Employment

The GOS 2025 data covers three graduate cohorts. For undergraduates, the full-time employment rate moved from 59.7 percent in 2023 to 52.3 percent in 2024 and 50.8 percent in 2025. Overall employment for the same group went from 72.6 percent in 2023 to 66.5 percent in 2024 and 70.7 percent in 2025. Median full-time salaries for undergraduates rose from 65,000 in 2023 to 68,000 in 2024 and 70,000 in 2025.

Postgraduate coursework graduates show a different pattern. Full-time employment was 60.7 percent in 2023, 56.1 percent in 2024, and 52.2 percent in 2025. Overall employment was 73.1 percent in 2023, 70.4 percent in 2024, and 73.7 percent in 2025. Median salaries were 65,000 in 2023, 70,000 in 2024, and 69,400 in 2025.

Postgraduate research graduates consistently show the highest employment figures. Full-time employment was 76.7 percent in 2023, 77.5 percent in 2024, and 71.8 percent in 2025. Overall employment was 86.6 percent in 2023, 86.7 percent in 2024, and 84.0 percent in 2025. Median salaries reached 100,000 in 2025, up from 92,000 in 2023 and 95,600 in 2024.

These numbers describe national cohorts. They do not tell you which university performed best, and they do not produce a ranking order. QILT publishes the data by institution on ComparED, but the headline figures are national aggregates.

按 QILT 截至2026年的现行口径，GOS 2025 同时报告三个毕业年份的数据，读者应明确自己引用的是哪一年、哪个学习层级，再与其他来源比较。

What QILT 2025 Tells You About Student Experience

The SES 2025 data reports positive ratings across several focus areas. For all undergraduate students, skills development scored 81.4 percent, teaching quality and engagement 80.5 percent, student support and services 71.3 percent, learning resources 83.3 percent, and peer engagement 61.4 percent. The overall educational experience rating was 76.5 percent.

When you split undergraduates by stage, the numbers shift. Commencing students rated overall educational experience at 79.5 percent, while later-year students rated it at 72.6 percent. Teaching quality and engagement dropped from 82.7 percent for commencing students to 77.6 percent for later-year students. Learning resources went from 86.2 percent to 79.1 percent.

Postgraduate coursework students rated their experience slightly higher overall. All students in this group gave an overall educational experience rating of 77.8 percent. Commencing students rated it 78.8 percent, and later-year students 77.1 percent. Skills development scored 84.1 percent across all postgraduate coursework students.

These are percentage positive ratings from a survey, not scores out of 100 in the way a ranking system scores universities. A rating of 76.5 percent means 76.5 percent of respondents gave a positive response, not that the university scored 76.5 out of 100 on a quality scale.

按 QILT 截至2026年的公开数据，SES 2025 的焦点领域评分按学习层级和就读阶段分别报告，引用时应同时说明这两个维度。

How to Compare QILT and QS Without Mixing Them Up

The most common mistake is treating a QILT percentage as a ranking score or treating a QS rank as an outcome measure. They are built for different purposes.

A useful approach is to separate your questions. If you want to know how graduates fared in the labour market, use QILT GOS data. If you want to know how students rated their learning experience, use QILT SES data. If you want to see how a university compares to others globally on reputation and research indicators, use QS or another commercial ranking.

A Comparison Table for Your Own Notes

The table below is a framework for recording what each source tells you. It is not a ranking table and it does not score any university.

核验维度	QILT 数据	QS evidence
资质	该调查由澳大利亚政府资助，数据来自官方调查项目，可核验调查名称与年份	该排名由 QS 发布，方法论公开，但指标权重由 QS 自行设定
费用	QILT 数据免费公开，无任何费用	QS 排名结果公开，但完整数据访问可能需要订阅
流程	数据通过毕业生和在校生调查收集，按学习层级和年份报告	数据通过声誉调查、文献引用和师生比等指标汇总
合同	无合同概念，数据为公开统计结果	无合同概念，排名为商业产品

Use this table to keep your notes organised. Write down which survey, which year, and which cohort each number comes from. Do not mix QILT percentages with QS scores in the same calculation.

Common Questions About QILT and QS

Can I compare a QILT employment rate to a QS score?

No. They measure different things. A QILT employment rate is a percentage of graduates in a national cohort who were employed. A QS score is a weighted composite of reputation and research indicators. There is no conversion between them.

Does QILT rank universities?

QILT publishes data by institution on ComparED, but it does not produce a single national ranking list. You can compare institutions on specific indicators, but QILT does not order them into a ranked table.

Is QILT more reliable than QS?

They are reliable for different purposes. QILT is based on survey responses from graduates and students, so it reflects actual outcomes and experiences. QS is based on a methodology that includes reputation surveys and research metrics, so it reflects perceived quality and research output. Neither is a substitute for the other.

Where can I find QILT data?

QILT data is published on the QILT website and on ComparED. The official QILT site provides survey results and methodology documents. ComparED allows you to look up specific institutions.