Humanities graduates earn more than those who study science and maths
Peter Hurley/ The Conversation
Australian Education minister Dan Tehan has announced changes to funding rates for university courses as part of a plan to create “job ready graduates”. He said: Projections prepared before the COVID-19 pandemic showed that over the five years to 2024 it is expected that the overwhelming majority of new jobs will require tertiary qualifications – and almost half of all new jobs will go to someone with a bachelor or higher qualification. Under the new plan, students doing teaching, nursing, clinical psychology, English and languages will pay 46% less for their degree from next year. Students in agriculture and maths will pay 62% less, while those studying science, health, architecture, environmental science, IT, and engineering will be 20% better off. But the student contribution for the humanities will go up by 113%, and the costs for law and commerce will jump by 28%. The rationale is to encourage students to select courses with the best employment outcomes. Tehan said health care is projected to make the largest contributions to employment growth, followed by science and technology, education and construction. He said these industries are projected to provide 62% of total employment growth over the next five years. Although there will be no change in course fees for medicine, dental, and veterinary science students. With a forecasted rise in unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tehan is expecting more young people to go to university, and others to return to re-skill. National figures show about 93% of graduates who are available for work are employed three years after completing their bachelor degree. While science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates are a focus of Tehan’s reforms, not all STEM graduates have above-average employment outcomes. After three years, the overall employment rate of engineering graduates is 95%, while science and maths graduates have a 90.1% rate of overall employment.