£50k less pay if you do same degree at a lesser university

A DEGREE from an elite university can earn a graduate £50,000 a year more than a student who did the same subject at a less prestigious college.

They are financially rewarded for attending Oxford, Cambridge and the 22 other Russell Group universities.

Analysis of 148 institutions and salaries based on tax data reveals which ones produce the highest earning graduates, after they have been in the labour market for five years.

The choice of university is important for many graduates, as tuition fees south of the Border rise to £9,250 this autumn.

Oxford and Cambridge repeatedly topped the lists, although salaries vary much more according to the university a student attended in disciplines such as law, economics and business studies than they do in humanities such as English.

The median salary for a law graduate from Oxford who left in 2008-9 is £61,400 – the highest in the sector, reveal figures published by the Department for Education.

That compares to a £17,300 median salary for a law graduate from Bradford University – a wage difference of £44,100. in the top earning bracket, an Oxford law graduate earns £78,000 five years after graduation. Glasgow University’s medicine and dentistry graduates can expect to earn £49,200, while Aberdeen University engineering and technology students can expect to make £49,000.

in the table for lowest median salaries after five years, St Andrews University medicine and dentistry graduates can expect to be paid £40,300, while those graduating in veterinary science from Glasgow University are said to earn £33,900.

Social studies (excluding economics) graduates from the University of the Highlands and islands are much lower at £16,300. The highest median salary was earned by a Cambridge graduate, at £31,000. The lowest, £13,300, was for an English graduate from the University of St Mark and St John in Plymouth.

Dr Tim Bradshaw, acting director of the Russell Group, said university is about more than future earnings, however ‘this will be a factor for many young people’. He said: ‘We know employers value our graduates. These figures suggest that they are willing to pay a premium for them, too.’

Nicola Dandridge, of Universities UK, insisted ‘graduate salaries are not the only measure of success’.