Yes, studying is essential, but what subjects and above all which university? This is the question that school leavers and parents are asking all over the world in the hope of focusing their intellectual efforts and economic resources on an investment that could prove strategic. They have two goals: to create a profile that could be marketable internationally and to get a better than average salary. The answer to globalization and to the labour market crisis may depend on the university that you choose to attend. Here are the outstanding institutions that can guarantee more opportunities.
The Olympus of universities
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the best university in the world for the seventh consecutive year, surpassing Harvard, which held this coveted title for six years. In Italy, the best university is the Politecnico di Milano, while in the UK, Oxford has overtaken Cambridge for the first time. These rankings are presented in the fifteenth edition of the QS World University Rankings. The report was published by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global consulting firm that specializes in analysis of the university sector.
The US still holds the first four positions, which have not changed since last year, while for the first time, Oxford (5th place) has overtaken Cambridge (6th place) and is ranked the top university in Europe.
This year, for the first time, a Chinese university, Tsinghua University (17th), has entered the top 20 in the world. The National University of Singapore (11th) and Nanyang Technological University (12th) are on the verge of reaching the top 10, a sign that outstanding research centres and “knowledge powerhouses” in Asia are increasingly competitive.
The best in Italy
Among the Italian universities, the Politecnico di Milano has been ranked as the best university in Italy for the fourth year running (156th in the world ranking).
The study also shows that Italy is fourth in Europe for the total number of universities included in the ranking. In terms of the number of universities in the top 200 in the world, Italy is in seventh place, tied with Belgium, among the European nations, after the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Sweden.
“This year,” commented Ben Sowter, director of the QS Research Department, “24 out of 30 Italian universities have improved their standing in the international academic community. And 25 have improved in the criterion that measures the impact of research. These are positive trends, especially considering the constantly growing global competitiveness. If we consider single indices, Italian universities appear among the top hundred on eight occasions.”
How much is a degree worth?
Choosing the right university can give you a better chance of finding work and above all a higher salary. The Job Pricing observatory, in partnership with Spring Professional, has studied the relationship between degrees and salaries. In terms of average annual gross income, graduates earn 11,900 euro more than school leavers (39,730 euro compared to 27,849).
In the first ten years of their degree, Italian graduates from Bocconi University earn the most, with an average salary of 35,500 euro gross per year. Graduates from the Politecnico di Milano come second (32,905 euro), while those from LUISS are in third place (32,870 euro). These figures should be compared to the average national salary of 30,480 euro gross per year.
After 45, the situation changes: graduates aged over 45 receive an average of 49,427 gross annually, while the situation is certainly more favourable for graduates from Bocconi (63,861 euro), Cattolica di Milano (61,040) and LUISS Guido Carli (58,892). According to the 2017 report, those who have studied at a private university have an average gross annual income of 45,553 euro at the middle stage of their career, 6,500 euro more than that of graduates from public universities (39,026 euro).
Which university you attend makes a big difference, but the type of faculty is equally important: science faculties facilitate entry to higher salary levels and a higher salary rise over the course of your career. In their first ten years after starting work, biologists earn the most (35,410 euro on average). However, between the ages of 25 and 54, degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry lead to the highest salaries. Degrees linked to lower salaries include degree courses in the area of pedagogical and psychological sciences (25,242 euro).