University degree won't mean you get a good job, students told

STUDENTS were warned not to go to university in the hope of a better-paid career today amid fresh evidence that thousands of graduates end up in menial jobs.

University-leavers can no longer count on earning more than their peers without degrees because the job market is flooded with graduates, academics said.

They also warned that some courses will cost students more to complete than they would ever earn back as a result.

The report by the 1994 Group, which represents 18 universities, found a gap in salaries between graduates who studied arts subjects and those who took sciences, even at the most prestigious universities. A gap also existed between graduates who had studied at traditional, research-based universities and graduates from less prestigious universities who earn less. Overall, a fifth of graduates were not in "graduate-level jobs" three and a half years after finishing their studies.

The findings cast doubt on government claims that graduates typically earn £100,000 more over their lifetime than those who do not go to university.

Professor Deian Hopkin, vice chancellor of London South Bank University, told a debate at the centre-Right think tank Policy Exchange in Westminster: "The premium must be diminishing the more people you bring in."

He said that university education had benefits, with graduates tending to be happier and living longer than those who went straight from school to work.

But students must be told that the benefit of getting a degree "does not necessarily translate into cash terms" or make them richer, he said.

He suggested tuition fees may need to be adjusted on the basis of the likely salaries courses bring to graduates.

Professor Steve Smith, vice chancellor of Exeter University and chairman of the 1994 Group, said that employers valued the transferable life skills graduates have more than their degrees.