To earn the most you need to study medicine - and be rich already

Prospective university students are being advised to study medicine and economics if they want to earn the best salaries after they graduate, says the BBC.

According to a major study of earnings performance, led by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and based on student loan repayment data for 260,000 former students who left university ten years' ago, median earnings for those reading either of these two subjects are far and away the highest.

Men with a degree in medicine command a median wage of £55,300 and £42,000 respectively, while women earn on average £45,400 and £38,200.

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The lowest paying subjects are in the creative arts, graduates of which are earning £17,900 or £14,500 a decade after completing their courses. No allowances were made in the data for the lower average salaries in given sectors or jobs.

It is clear from the data that the gender gap persists among graduates just as it does among non-graduates - and the Financial Times notes that "university education may not be the leveller it was once believed".

Graduates from richer backgrounds earn significantly more than their poorer counterparts, even after completing the same degrees at the same universities. The average gap in earnings is £8,000 a year for men and £5,300 a year for women.

There were also findings that may boost the more established universities' push to begin increasing their currently-capped £9,000 tuition fees from next year.

"More than 10 per cent of Oxford, Cambridge and London School of Economics male graduates earned more than £100,000 after 10 years," states the FT. "The LSE was the only university where more than 10 per cent of female graduates earned more than £100,000."