Find out which university degrees could earn you most across your lifetime

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Find out which university degrees could earn you most across your lifetime Image source, Getty ImagesByEmily HoltPublished13 minutes agoYoung people are being urged to choose their university degree subjects carefully, after new research reveals how it can impact your career earnings. On average, graduates picking medicine can earn up to £400,000 more over their lifetime compared to non-graduates, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests. Economics could also earn graduates significantly more but other subjects, including creative arts, philosophy and languages, offer little to negative financial return when compared to the earnings of someone similar without a degree, the research suggests.

The Department for Education (DfE) says it will cap numbers on courses with poorest returns, and will consult on the introduction of minimum English language requirements. The data suggests the average graduate earns around £100,000 more over their lifetime than non-graduate counterparts, even after taxes and student loan repayments. While there are significant financial benefits to undergraduate degrees on average, the data suggests a quarter of graduates can expect to be financially worse off over their lifetime as a result of going to university.

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One in ten male graduates will potentially be more than £90,000 worse off than they otherwise would have been. For students who continued in education post-16, but had relatively low GCSE grades, the data reflects that they can expect their lifetime take-home pay to be £53,000 higher on average than peers with similar grades who did not attend university. However, among graduate men with low prior attainment, around four in 10 can expect to be worse-off financially over their lifetimes than if they had not gone to university.

The research investigates the lifetime financial returns to starting a full-time undergraduate degree at a UK university before the age of 21. The data was produced from analysis of a cohort of England-domiciled students who were born in the mid 1980s and took their GCSE exams in 2002. More recent data on graduate outcomes was published by the DfE on the 2022-2023 tax year.

The DfE said the government had outlined plans to draw up options to limit the growth of some courses at some providers, where there are consistently "poor returns for students". The government will begin a new consultation in the autumn to look at options for a minimum English language requirement for prospective undergrads to access student finance. 'Not all degrees are equal'Minister for Skills Jacqui Smith said it was important that prospective undergrads "choose carefully".

"Don't walk into a degree by default," she says. "Going to university and getting a degree is one of the most transformational things a young person can do. But it is not a universal guarantee of success and not all degrees are equal.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.