The earnings returns to postgraduate degrees in the UK

Postgraduate education has expanded rapidly in the last couple of decades, with more than 350,000 students now starting a postgraduate course in the UK each year, compared with only around half this number 20 years ago. As increasing numbers of students consider postgraduate study, accurate information on the returns to the different options they face is essential for allowing them to make an informed decision on whether, where and what to study. Previous evidence on the returns to postgraduate study in the UK has generally implied that the returns are quite large and positive. However, the current evidence on postgraduate returns has faced serious limitations, primarily due to data availability. This report provides estimates of the earnings returns to completing postgraduate degrees for British and Northern Irish students studying in Britain. It uses the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset to account for differences in individuals' background and prior university attainment to estimate the impact of postgraduate qualifications on earnings at age 35, relative to having an undergraduate degree and not proceeding onto further study.