Graduate outcomes

What is a degree worth? Estimating the returns to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees

Imran Tahir
Ben Waltmann
Laura van der Erve

Published on 12 November 2020

The share of people staying on in education beyond the age of 18 has grown substantially in the UK since the 1980s. Yet until now, evidence on the effect of these qualifications on subsequent earnings has been limited. This event presented key findings from three pieces of research published in 2020 by the IFS on returns to education.

The share of people staying on in education beyond the age of 18 has grown substantially in the UK since the 1980s. Yet until now, evidence on the effect of these qualifications on subsequent earnings has been limited. The newly available Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) dataset has changed that, allowing us to produce new evidence on the returns to various different post-18 qualifications.

This event presented key findings from three pieces of research published in 2020 by the IFS (and written in collaboration with various external colleagues), including the lifetime returns to undergraduate degrees, the returns to postgraduate degrees, and the returns to alternative post-18 qualifications.

You can watch the event in full below, or download the presentations by clicking here.