Revealed: the degrees that will net you the highest salaries
This year’s university graduates will walk out of their ceremonies and headlong into a mountain of debt, making a high-paying job a necessity if they ever hope to clear it.
Last week, The Telegraph revealed the “Mickey Mouse degrees” which were likely to leave graduates on a salary too low to even begin paying off their student loans.
Now new research has found the degree courses which will net grads the largest pay packets five years after finishing their studies.
Jobs website Adzuna analysed the career pathways graduates of different universities commonly take after finishing their studies, and what they could expect to be earning five years into their careers based on current market conditions.
Half of the top 10 degrees with the highest earning potential all fall within the same field – engineering.
The highest-ranked course was business analytics, for which graduates could expect to earn £51,265 five years after leaving university.
It was followed by four types of engineering degree, those being electronics and communication (£49,255), computer engineering (£47,243), petroleum engineering (£45,647), and industrial engineering (£44,841).
Lucrative degrees other than engineering included IT (£44,193) and entrepreneurship (£44,087), suggesting maths-based degrees are still favoured by employers. By contrast, degree courses in photography, criminology and fine arts ranked the lowest, according to Adzuna.
Competition for jobs is far less fierce for technical degrees than for those hoping to make it as professional artists, who can find themselves working in corporate jobs in sales due to the low number of paid jobs in the arts.
A separate analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency data by Oxford Learning College found engineers and scientists were still in high demand – there were 3,948 jobs available each month for information systems graduates, the college found, second only to roles for project management degrees, for whom there were 7,106 jobs available each month.
Tilan O’Connell of Oxford Learning College said: “The predicted increase in earning potential for sectors like law, computing and business and management graduates in the next decade was “no doubt a result of the ripple effect from the pandemic and people wanting to take ownership of their own career and progression path.”
However, the college said degrees in medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences had a higher employment rate, making them a strong option for graduates.
Ms O’Connell added: “It’s surprising to see that graduate numbers for natural and biological science degrees are set to decrease so rapidly over the next 10 years, especially given the incredible breakthroughs the medical sector has provided over the past couple of years.
“It’s worth considering a career in medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences as the study shows that these degrees provide the best earning potential for graduates.”
This article was first published on April 6 2023, and is kept updated with the latest information.
