British graduates are earning thousands of pounds less a year than the international students they studied alongside, official figures show.
Data from the Department of Education has revealed UK graduates who had completed their degrees in 2018 earned an average of £31,400 in the 2022-23 tax year. This figure is only £2,000 more than the median wage in the country.
Their peers from outside the EU were earning an average wage of £41,200, placing them in the top 30 per cent of workers in the UK.
Tom Allingham, who writes for a student money website called Save the Student, told the Telegraph that the figures “highlight some of the disparities in graduate earning potential”.
He said: “As a starting point, it’s worth emphasising that overseas graduates who have studied here face additional challenges, including the pressure to secure a new visa after their student one expires. And yet, in the medium term, they’re still earning significantly more than their UK peers”.
(Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty).It is likely that the disparity in wages can be explained by graduates’ choices of where and what to study.
For international students, the higher cost of studying in the UK means they are often more selective about the institution they wish to attend, preferring to obtain a degree from a higher-ranked university.
At University College London, 51 per cent of enrolments in 2023-24 came from international students, and Kings College London, London School of Economics and Imperial all had an intake of students that included about 40 per cent from abroad.
And whilst the national average across UK universities is that 15 per cent of students are international, Cambridge and Oxford both admit 20 per cent foreign students.
Allingham said: “The disproportionate numbers of international students at Russell Group universities compared to others, and these students’ subject choices, are both likely to have contributed to this disparity”.
Business and management courses are most popular among non-EU foreign students, with engineering and technology degrees coming in second.
In the year 2022-23, engineering graduates were amongst the best paid in the UK, with average wages reaching £41,600 after five years.
Allingham said: “It underlines that, if graduate earnings are a priority for you, you should look into the specific stats for individual courses and universities”.
Cardiff University has offered knock-down grades in clearing following financial troubles (Photo: Judith Williams/Getty Images/iStock Editorial)As universities struggle for cash, they have admitted more and more international students, whose fees are often four times those of UK students.
Income from international students’ fees now total £12.1billion, equating to a quarter of universities’ incomes from fees.
Indeed, over the past decade, the number of non-EU international students has risen by more than 60,000.
Experts have warned that at least six universities are at risk of going bust before the September 2025 intake of students finish their degrees.
New measures from the Government making it more difficult for international students to come to the UK mean that universities are having to find more creative ways to keep their student roll full and ensure they have enough money to continue.
The i Paper revealed this month that universities have started offering student cut-price courses, cash handouts, and free laptops in a bid to encourage UK students to take up their places.
One Vice-Chancellor said that universities were also over-filling their courses to make sure they had enough income to stay afloat.
Others were offering admission to students with lower grades that normally expected when results were collected two weeks ago and experts have labelled the new landscape a “buyer’s market” for 18-year-olds wanting to go on to higher education.
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