The Best Universities for Boosting Graduate Earnings

"Research led by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, released by the Department for Education has highlighted the importance of university and the course in determining graduates’ earnings.

The Government's Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published a report on how different universities and subjects affected graduates' income five years after they graduate. It also distinguishes between male and female graduates, due to the UK's continuing gender pay gap. Its results aren't that useful, showing that women who studied economics at LSE earn the most; for men, studying economics at Cambridge appears to be the most lucrative course.

The findings are stark. Different institutions and subject combinations have vastly different impacts on the earnings of their graduates, and despite common perceptions to the contrary, can matter more for earnings than student characteristics on entry to university. Medicine and economics degrees increase graduates early career earnings by 25% more than English and history degrees. Russell Group universities increase earnings by around 10% more than the average degree.

The IFS report is a significant contribution towards filling this gap in the evidence. By showing the earnings outcomes for graduates of universities when comparing similar students, these figures strip the student composition effect and highlight how the value that degrees directly add to graduates’ earnings varies by institution and subject."

See the full article and access the interactive tool on wonkhe to see how studying a particular subject at a particular institution might affect your earnings.





Ranking for universities which appear in top 10 for both sexes:




Source: The universities and degrees that lead to the highest salaries

Thought the same, I thought unis like Edin/King's would place over the likes of Loughborough. Maybe Loughborough deserves a better rep.

Glad to hear that LSE is also on the list so I still have chance of securing great careers after completing master degree here.

wow some real surprises in there. For Harper Adams i wonder if this was an anomalous year or if the uni has a particular quirk, for women at least?

quite chuffed that i did Biology and expect to be on £45k five years after graduating

hows that going 5 years later

OMGGGGGG

firstly wow i am so happily surprised that you pulled up that 5 years' time 'time capsule' message that i can respond to

secondly WOWWW you messaging me with this today of all days is one of the most unlikely coincidences ever ha. i've spent the last few months on 38k fighting a complaint about my manager who didn't promote me which would have put me on a salary around that range, so I applied for a new job and was told the salary will be 45k, and I was due to hear back from the company about this 45k job.... today!....although unfortunately she just emailed earlier to say her colleagues had f**ked off on a Friday so i'd have to wait till Monday to find out for sure

Haha seems like the average earnings after 5 years is pretty accurate

to be fair, i'd say it's accurate for someone deliberately not chasing big money jobs due to prioritising work-life balance, not settling in one industry (and so having to re-learn skills) etc. i could easily be on 60-75k now otherwise

what is your situation then? why did you ask in the first place??

i was just curious, was checking these statistics trying to make an a decision which university offers to accept (im in y13 currently).

ahh, what unis have you got and what degree choice?

applying StA, UCL, Edi, Warwick, Bath for cs+maths at 4 of them and cs+ai at bath. Already got an edi offer (A*BB)

the employment prospects of these unis will be negligible - bath has the placement which will make a bit of difference and Warwick has a great rep for maths so you'd be surrounded by top students. main thing is if you like the Scottish degree structure and lifestyle, don't let a £37 vs £38k average starting salary sway you

oh and for CS you will be earning way, way more than 45k after 5 years ha

yea a scottish uni would be huge cause i get free fees so instead of 9250 a year its ZERO

ok well then that's your answer!

yea i agree, my main caution was incase UCL was like tenfold better than StA then id have it as my top choice and just take not having free fees on the chin. right now StA is the top one i believe