Does it really matter where you study?

This report compares the earnings of people who have completed a bachelors degree at a university with the earnings those who completed a similar qualification at a polytechnic. The key finding of the report is that there is no evidence to substantiate claims of labour market discrimination against polytechnic degrees. In particular: there is no discrimination at the point of entry into the labour market - the median earnings of those entering the workforce with a bachelors degree from a polytechnic are roughly the same as those with a university bachelors degree; over time, university graduates gain a modest margin over polytechnic graduates; in many areas where the polytechnics have specialised in degree teaching - business, computing and engineering - the differences are very slight and in some fields, polytechnic graduates earn more than university graduates on average; and university graduates tend to predominate at the upper ends of the earnings distribution - bachelors graduates with the highest earnings are more likely to have taken their degree at a university.

The causes of the differences in earnings between polytechnic and university graduates are not known for sure. The reasons may include the following: university bachelors students may be better prepared academically for study - either through their school performance or through innate ability; polytechnics may have prepared their graduates better for the workforce, while university graduates reveal their skills more slowly; and in some fields, polytechnic bachelors degrees have been concentrated in occupations that traditionally attract lower salaries.

Published abstract.

This report compares the earnings of people who have completed a bachelors degree at a university with the earnings those who completed a similar qualification at a polytechnic. The key finding of the report is that there is no evidence to substantiate claims of labour market discrimination against polytechnic degrees. In particular: there is no discrimination at the point of entry into the labour market - the median earnings of those entering the workforce with a bachelors degree from a polytechnic are roughly the same as those with a university bachelors degree; over time, university ...  [+] Show more