Article
❓ Are graduate salaries the wrong way to measure universities?
Originally posted on LinkedIn on August 18, 2025.
❓ Are graduate salaries the wrong way to measure universities? 🎓 Everyone’s talking about the LEO data on graduate outcomes. Some say it’s the holy grail of accountability, others suspect it’s more of a half-finished sudoku puzzle. Here’s the short version before you decide: 📊 LEO shows useful things – graduates earn more than non-graduates, employment rates are high, and subject choice matters. 🧐 But it doesn’t tell the whole story – social background, geography, and subject explain much of the variation. 🌍 What it leaves out is huge – the societal, economic, health, and international benefits of higher education. 💷 Debt and part-time jobs are rising – real challenges for students, but not arguments for reducing universities to salary stats. 💬 What do you think? Should we be measuring universities by graduate salaries, or is there a better way?