Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of early-career earnings as a measure of university course value in sectors characterised by self-employment, income volatility and delayed earnings growth, including the creative industries; and what consideration they have given to alternative indicators such as business formation rates, intellectual property generation or contribution to cultural exports as supplementary measures.

Outcomes from various data and at multiple points after graduation are considered by the department to understand graduate outcomes across different sectors. This includes 15 months after graduation in the Graduate Outcomes survey, and 3, 5 and 10 years after graduation in the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data. The Office for Students uses Graduate Outcomes survey data for their B3 condition of registration measures to help ensure course quality, but these B3 measures do not include graduate earnings.

The department also considers the wider potential benefits of higher education, when designing policy. These may include increased innovation and exports, contributions to cultural and heritage capital, potential intergenerational effects on children’s outcomes and potential associations with health or crime rates.