Summary

Key Findings

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.
• 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;
• in some fields, polytechnic bachelors degrees have been concentrated in occupations that traditionally attract lower salaries.