How does education influence professional success?

There’s a growing emphasis on employability within higher education. Increasingly, programmes are being designed to ensure students make a smooth transition into working life.

This is certainly true at the University of Birmingham. We believe education and personal success are intimately linked, and that’s perhaps why we’re consistently ranked in the top 15 UK universities for employability¹. According to the latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), 94.8% of our graduates are either in employment or studying within six months of leaving².

Figure 1: ONS data showing employment levels by the highest level of qualification held (2017)

Securing employment after graduation is typically just the first step, and as alumni go on to accumulate real experience and develop valuable skills while working, the role of education in professional success becomes progressively more obscured. Nevertheless, the evidence that it continues to exert long-term influence on professional success is plentiful.

Earning potential

Not too long ago we remarked on the large volume of articles in the business world promising tips on becoming successful by emulating “successful people”. Though these articles rarely go into depth about just how “success” is defined, the assumption most articles seem to make is that it’s linked primarily to career advancement and salary.

If we’re to go by those markers – salary in particular – the latest data strongly supports higher education’s effectiveness. In compiling its recent ‘Absolute Returns’ report³, the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies found that female and male graduates are earning 28 percent and 8 percent more on average than their non-graduate counterparts by the age of 29.

Look to any kind of up-to-date ‘rich list’ and you’ll find further evidence of the near-necessity of higher education. Forbes top-five mainstays Jeff Bezos, Carlos Slim and Warren Buffett are all graduates, L’Oréal heir and world’s richest woman Francoise Bettencourt Meyers inherited a fortune built by her graduate grandfather, and while tech-giant founders Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are famous college drop-outs, both have publicly acknowledged the importance of the time they did spend in study.

Career possibilities

Though an important one, salary is just one aspect of professional success. Career paths are also affected by the decision to progress to higher education – most obviously, law and medicine are exclusive to graduates, but different industries provide a range of roles exclusively available to this population.

Public administration education and health is a sector dominated by graduates, for example, as the latest ONS data shows.

Figure 2: ONS data showing the percentage of graduates and non-graduates employed in each industry group (2017)