Herald on Sunday editorial: Getting the measure of tertiary degrees

University of Auckland students walking up Queen Street on their way to their graduation ceremony. Photo / Martin Sykes

Figures collected in the five-yearly census can be used in endless ways. Research for Universities New Zealand has compared the jobs of graduates aged 29-38 in the 2013 Census with the highest degrees they obtained, perhaps to answer the usual question, "What use is a degree anyway?"

Or perhaps not. The rising proportion of the population with degrees suggests steadily fewer school leavers need convincing that more education will pay off. In fact some of the results of the research suggest a degree is becoming an entry qualification to any career.

The second-most-common job of graduates with a BA in English, we have reported today, is sales representative. The next-most-common is general sales assistant. Less surprisingly, the most common job of those with BA or BSc degrees in most subjects is teaching the subject at secondary school.

Universities NZ chief executive Chris Whelan told us 90 percent of graduates ended up in work associated with their degree, which is higher than might be expected. Many students finish a degree with still no clear idea of whether they will use it, and some have no urge to use it, having found something different they want to do by the time they graduate.

A prime example is none other than the present Minister of Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce. He did a degree in biology and went into broadcasting, having developed that interest on a campus radio station. He became an owner of radio stations and now look where he is. A long way from biology.

Yet in a recent edict to the tertiary sector he announced that from 2017 all universities, polytechnics, wananga and private training centres will have to publish the employment status and earnings of their graduates broken down by degrees.

It will be the sort of information available nationally from the Census but it will permit students to compare the tertiary institutions.

It is bound to be an interesting and fiercely competitive exercise. We will be able to compare the status and earnings of graduates from the various law schools, for example, and science faculties and business schools.

The institutions might not welcome the public comparisons but both students and taxpayers will have a better idea of the return they might expect from fees and course subsidies. Subjects that do not directly lead to lucrative careers will be undervalued, but as English graduates working at sales counters might remind us, education can be enriching in more ways than one. Students should follow their interests before the money.