The university degrees that land graduates the highest salaries

First study

First study of its kind shows economics
tops earnings table – while creative arts rank lowest

One-Minute Read

A previous IFS study had already revealed big
differences in the earnings of graduates from different
universities, but the many other variables that might affect
student performance made it difficult to draw definitive
conclusions. The updated research is an attempt to account for
these differences, which include students’s backgrounds and how
well they had performed at school. 

The new study draws on a dataset of
school, university and tax records created by the Department for
Education – and concludes that choice of degree or university
alone “might increase or decrease your earnings” later in life.

An economics degrees from a prestigious university secures the
best wages for both men and women across the UK, with graduates who
read economics at Cambridge earning £32,532 more than the average,
followed by London School of Economics (LSE) alumni, with an
additional £31,307.

At the other end of the scale are creative arts graducates, the
BBC reports. “For men the Conservatoire for Dance and
Drama has an impact of -£19,962, and for women the Guildhall School
of Music and Drama comes last with -£16,589,” says the
broadcaster.

The IFS report concludes that “a large proportion of the raw
earnings differences can be explained by differences in the
characteristics of students taking different degrees”, but adds
that “high-earnings subjects and institutions typically take
students with higher prior attainment and from higher
socio-economic backgrounds who would have gone on to have higher
earnings anyway”.