Men with arts degrees earning less than those who skipped university

MEN who study art, English or philosophy at university earn on average less at the age of 29 than those without a degree.

For the first time, data exposes how many arts and humanities courses produce negative returns – even though they cost up to £9,250 a year.

The worst return is for men studying creative arts. They earn on average 14 per cent less than non-graduate peers – while for English it is 7 per cent less and for philosophy it is 4 per cent less.

There are better returns for women – but only because they are disadvantaged in the labour market in general.

The report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will reignite the debate over whether some degree courses are worth the time and effort.

It comes as a Government-appointed panel prepares to release the results of a Higher Education Review, which will make recommendations about value-formoney and student fees.

After the IFS study of 1,400 courses was published yesterday, universities minister Sam Gyimah said courses failing to provide ‘value for money’ will have to ‘improve or delist’.

And the Office for Students (OfS) regulator vowed to ‘intervene’ where universities provide poor outcomes – with sanctions including fines and closure.

The IFS study links degree information with Whitehall tax data, taking a snapshot of annual earnings of 29-year- old graduates and non-graduates.

Among both groups, it examined only those with five GCSEs graded A* to C. The study found that overall, a degree does produce a premium – of £6,200 a year for women and £2,000 for men. Similarly, 99 per cent of women see a positive return on their degree, as do 67 per cent of men – an average of 85 per cent overall. But this means a significant minority are seeing a negative effect from going to university.

The effect is worse for men because men who do not go to university tend to do better than women in the labour market.

Male-dominated trades which do not require a degree – such as plumbing and construction – can be lucrative.

The researchers calculated what a person would have earned had they not gone to university – adjusting for the fact that some subjects attract more affluent or more able students.

A man studying creative arts could expect to earn £25,900 – 14 per cent less than the £30,110 he would be earning if he had not gone to university. Men doing English could earn £30,700 – 7 per cent less than the estimated £33,029. And men doing philosophy could earn £37,000 – 4 per cent less than the estimated £38,581.

At the other end of the scale, men with economics degrees earn 33 per cent more than those who did not attend university.

Mr Gyimah called on the OfS to ‘crack down’ on courses which ‘do not add value’.

He added: ‘ It is clear that there are a clutch of courses at certain universities which are not delivering financial outcomes for students.

‘We have got to put [the data] out there to let prospective students know, and force the university to either delist the course or actually improve the course.’

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS, said: ‘Universities should scrutinise this data carefully, and some will need to ask themselves tough questions about how well they are preparing students for life after graduation.’

‘Courses which do not add value’