UK: Science students from top universities earn most

Graduates earn hugely different salaries depending on what subject they study and which university they attend, new research has found, reports The Guardian. According to research into graduate employment and earnings by the 1994 group, science graduates from the old research-intensive universities will earn much more than graduates with arts and social science degrees from the newer teaching-led institutions.

But Deian Hopkin, vice-chancellor of London South Bank University, speaking on behalf of new universities, argued that the data was unreliable, as it was based on a small sample of 13,000 students out of 600,000. "If you control for prior attainment, social background and strip out medical schools and postgraduates, the differences would fall away," he argued.

A third (31.7%) of science and technology graduates from research-intensive universities (those in the Russell and 1994 groups) earn between £30,000 and £49,999 three years after leaving university. This compares with 12.4% of graduates from less prestigious institutions, the study found. Just 16% of graduates in arts and social sciences from research-intensive universities expect to earn that amount of money and only 8.8% from other institutions.
Full report on The Guardian site