Computer science has become the most popular and lucrative degree in the UK as teenagers paying nearly £30,000 for university tuition home in on courses that pay the highest salaries after they graduate.
Students applying to study a subject that includes robotics, video game design and cyberhacking have increased by 31 per cent since 2019, growing nearly 10 per cent in the past 12 months, making it the fastest-growing subject of choice in the country, according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024, published today.
Computer science is now the most competitive degree course at the University of Cambridge, with only 5.6 per cent of hopefuls admitted, the lowest ratio of applications to offers of any degree course at either Oxford or Cambridge. Computer science graduates at Imperial College London are the highest-paid of any degree course at any UK university, enjoying an average salary of £64,000 six months after graduation.
The increased focus by youngsters on their job prospects has helped drive St Andrews to the No 1 spot among UK universities for the second time in three decades. St Andrews, which has one of the highest percentage of students in graduate employment 15 months after leaving, has beaten both Oxford and Cambridge for the second time in the guide’s 30-year history. Oxford is the runner-up while Cambridge retains third place.
High scores for graduate jobs also played a part in University College London being named as The Times and The Sunday Times’s University of the Year 2024. Michael Spence, the president and provost of UCL, said the award was a “testament to the dynamic and diverse community of students and staff who make UCL such an extraordinary place”.
The academic rankings are based on an analysis of students’ graduate prospects as well as their satisfaction with their university’s teaching quality, entry standards and research quality. The highest risers this year include Buckingham (up 29 places), Bolton (up 18) and Cardiff Metropolitan (up 15), while the biggest fallers are Greenwich (down 21 places), Leeds Arts (down 18), Birmingham City (down 16) and Teesside (down 16).
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The league table is published at a time when the higher education landscape has never been more challenging.
• Why UCL has been named our University of the Year
“It is more competitive to get a place at many of our top institutions; the cost of attending university has soared, leaving graduates with extraordinary debt; and in many cases campus life still bears the scars of the pandemic. Meanwhile lecturers are on strike and the marking crisis is a running scandal,” Helen Davies, the editor of the Good University Guide 2024, said. “It is right to take the time to make the right choice, and what you study and where you study matter more than ever when it comes to future earnings.”
• Which degree will earn you the most money?
The guide’s findings reflect the slump in the number of arts degrees on offer, especially foreign languages, according to data from the Ucas.
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In response new courses are launching. Solent University, for example, offers computer games programming and design while the University of Abertay has degrees in ethical hacking, cybersecurity and computing. Edinburgh Napier University has a 500-seat computer centre, open 24/7, a cyberattack simulation suite and computer games laboratory. The University of York’s Institute for Safe Autonomy opened in 2022 with a “living lab” to test innovations such as driverless car technology and robotics.
Clare Marchant, the chief executive of Ucas, acknowledged that today’s students were increasingly driven by the desire for a well-paid career, as well as current events including the recent wave of post-pandemic strikes.
She said: “Applications for some subjects have gone up since January this year — both computing science and business studies have seen the biggest rises. Education is massively down, teaching is massively down. Nursing has stopped rising. Is that influenced by strikes over pay and conditions? Of course it will be.”
Many of the universities at the top of the academic league table — those with the highest entry standards, best job prospects and most competition for places — are at the bottom of the guide’s social inclusion table. The highly selective Russell Group of universities occupy 16 of the bottom 20 places in the diversity rankings for England and Wales, with Durham University in last place. These rankings are based on measures reflecting the diversity of universities’ student intake and the students’ subsequent success in their degrees.
• How we compile the Good University Guide
The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024: top 10
1. University of St Andrews
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Britain’s No 1 university in our league table has improved its graduate prospects and student-to-staff ratio as well as entry standards and the proportion of firsts and 2:1 degrees (both in first place). Pubs, societies and balls are social mainstays, and the university is steeped in tradition. It has one of the most international student populations of any British university: in 2022 almost one third of the intake came from overseas.
Last year’s rank 2
2. University of Oxford
It is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, but Oxford’s dreaming spires look to the future, not least in producing a Covid vaccine. This autumn the first 35 students start the new Astrophoria Foundation Year, aimed at state school students who have experienced severe disadvantage or disrupted education.
Last year’s rank 1
3. University of Cambridge
In third place for the third consecutive year, Cambridge’s 31 honey-coloured colleges dominate the city centre. Design Tripos will launch in 2024, the first new degree in many years, which will merge the study of arts and sciences underpinned by a drive to address global challenges, including climate change and poverty.
Last year’s rank 3
4. London School of Economics and Political Science
Competition for a place at LSE is fierce and it is one of the few universities not to enter clearing. Today it offers more than 40 undergraduate courses, and joining them in 2024 is a BSc in politics and data science.
Last year’s rank 4
5. Imperial College London
The UK’s only specialist university in science, engineering, technology, medicine and business has a stellar teaching record. It tops our graduate prospects index for the third time (94.3 per cent of students move on to highly skilled jobs or further study within 15 months of completing their course) and is our University of the Year for Graduate Employment.
Last year’s rank 5
6. University College London
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A powerhouse of British higher education, promising “disruptive thinking since 1826”, UCL has opened a new campus in east London to study robotics and AI, ecology, sustainable cities, decarbonised transport, assistive technology, fair finance and health. It is our University of the Year 2024.
Last year’s rank 7
7. Durham University
High academic standards and an ambitious sporting tradition in a historic setting continue to drive demand at Durham. However, it is at the bottom of our social inclusion rankings in England and Wales.
Last year’s rank 6
8. University of Bath
Bath has been steadily climbing the academic rankings in the 21st century — taking The Sunday Times University of the Year title last year. Two-thirds of undergraduates spend a year gaining work experience with more than 3,000 organisations. About three in ten students gained scholarships and bursaries in 2022-23.
Last year’s rank 8
9. University of Warwick
Set in a 750-acre campus near Coventry, the university is keen to promote not only the study of science but also the creative subjects. Its ambition can be clearly seen in the opening of its Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building, and a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice.
Last year’s rank 9
10. Loughborough University
The UK’s leading sports institution has “arguably the best facilities in one square mile anywhere in the world”. It regularly claims more medals than many countries in the Olympics or other league tables. In March 2023 the Powerbase gym extension opened, doubling the elite strength and conditioning facilities to 34,400 sq ft.
Last year’s rank 11
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Good University Guide 2024
See the full league table and a guide to all 134 university profiles detailing everything from their academic reputation to campus facilities, wellbeing support, and scholarships and bursaries at The Sunday Times Good University Guide
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