The article by Richard Adams on the Institute for Fiscal Studies report relating to graduate pay was headlined “Degrees raise women’s pay – to level of non-graduate male peers” (27 November). What the IFS report also said was that men with degrees earn less than men in the same age group without degrees, and that having a degree boosts male incomes by only 6% whereas it raises female incomes by 50%.
Small wonder then that Jack Britton, one of the authors of the report, came to the conclusion that “for women, going to university is a very good investment; for men it is less clear – there is a large class of men doing courses that have a zero or negative monetary value so it is a question for them if they are worth doing”.
Neither the headline nor the content of the article gave an accurate assessment of the report, which tried to deal with an important issue in education.
Paul Hewitson
Berlin, Germany
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