Final year students in the Mining Engineering program at UNSW again had little difficulty in securing graduate employment. The main difficulty being deciding between the many offers of employment.

Again most students had secured employment by the middle of the year, allowing them to focus on their academic work in their final semester.

The survey found the mean and median starting salary packages were $94,293 and $92,000 respectively, slightly down on the previous year - see 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 for previous year survey results.

Even so, the packages are well above those in other professional disciplines and reflects the continued high demand for Mining Engineers in Australia.

The preference of students was highest in the hardrock metalliferous sector at 72% followed by the coal sector at 25%.

There was a 2:1 preference for employment in hardrock underground mining as opposed to hardrock open pit mining. Though in coal mining there was less differentiation between open cut and underground mining.

A greater proportion of the graduates will live in established rural townships (74%), many of which are large regional centers.

A smaller proportion will work on a Fly-In /Fly-Out work roster (23%), living mainly in capital cities on their off roster.