LONDON - THE expansion of university education has reduced the value of some degrees to zero as more young graduates join the workforce, research suggests.

Recent male graduates in arts and humanities are earning no more than those who left school after A levels, a study from the Institute of Education has found.

The results will add to pressure from universities to be allowed to set student tuition fees according to how much a degree subject is valued by employers, The Times has reported.

The majority of universities now charge ?3,000 (S$9,200) a year, the maximum permitted by the government. Research universities have pressed for a minimum of ?6,000.

The research also calls into question the government's long-term aim of increasing university participation to half of the adult population, up from 43 per cent at present.

Dr Anna Vignoles, Reader in Economics of Education in the department of economic, social and human development at the Institute of Education, who led the study, said that a university degree still had a high value in the labour market.

But a surplus of graduates in some non-scientific subjects could mean that those with degrees in the arts or humanities may soon find they are unable to earn enough to compensate for the amount that they paid for their university education.

'New graduates in these subject areas are earning similar amounts to those with just A levels,' she said.

'Some graduates in highly valued subjects, such as accountancy, will continue to profit from the amount they spent on their degrees. But others may gain only a small, or even a nil, return to their investment in higher education.'

She added that graduates in arts and humanities subjects, such as history, art or English literature, had among the lowest earnings. Accountancy graduates were earning at least 40 per cent more than them over the course of a lifetime.

Dr Vignoles, who presented her findings to the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in London yesterday, has suggested that tuition fees vary according to subjects and institution to help students realise what different subjects are worth.

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