Yahoo Finance Student demand grows faster at universities with higher graduate salaries
British universities that boast high graduate salaries have seen a bigger uptick in applications over the past five years than universities with lower average post-university wages, new research shows.
The data suggests that students are increasingly being drawn to institutions that can virtually guarantee they will get a well-paid job after graduation.
According to property company Savills, which looked at UCAS application numbers and linked them to graduate salaries, universities with higher graduate starting salaries have seen significantly greater increases in demand from prospective students since 2012.
For example, Imperial College London graduates earn an average of £30,600 in their first job post-graduation - more than £5,000 above the UK average. And applications at Imperial have grown by 22pc since 2012.
Graduates at The University of Bristol go on to jobs that pay £2,700 above average, and the university has seen a 20pc increase in applications since 2012.
Southampton graduates earn £2,800 more than average and applications there have grown 26pc.
On the other end of the spectrum, York St John, where graduates earn £20,300 per year on average, has seen its applications fall by 9pc since 2012.
Northampton Univerity has seen its application numbers fall 3pc over the past five years. Its graduates earn £3,200 below the UK average.
Lawrence Bowles of Savills said: “For every difference of £1,000 in average graduate salary, applications grew by an extra 1.9pc."
Last month, research from the IFS showed that students entering university this year can expect to face debts of more than £50,000 once they graduate. "With such a high liability, it’s no wonder students are flocking to universities with higher graduate salaries," Mr Bowles said.
