Areas of Study
In both the US and UK, the largest degree programs by far fall in the social sciences, business and law categories. Roughly 40 percent of degrees in the US are awarded in related fields and roughly 34 percent in the UK.
Science, mathematics, engineering and technology are the next most common areas of study, with 15 percent of degrees in the US coming from these categories compared to about 25 percent of UK graduates.
The arts and humanities are third most common, composing 9.9 percent of degrees in the US and 11 percent in the UK.
Unspecified or uncategorized areas of study bring up the rear, with 29 percent of US students graduating in this area each year compared to 27 percent in the UK.
University and College Rankings
The US and UK mutually dominate the international rankings of higher education institutions. The US routinely hosts 18 of the top 50 schools in the world (35 percent of top-ranking schools), while the UK hosts 10 of the top 50 schools (20 percent of top-ranking schools.)
That dominance is even more sharply defined in the top 10 schools, with the US comprising 50 percent of that list while UK schools make up an additional 40 percent. Only Switzerland and Australia regularly join the US and UK in top 10 rankings, generally taking turns at holding the 9th or 10th position for a few years at a time.
In the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) consistently dominates the number one spot, with other top-ranking schools including Harvard University, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The University of Cambridge is habitually the highest-ranking UK school, joined by the University of Oxford, University College London and Imperial College London.
Conclusions
Taken as a whole, the numbers paint the picture of two related but very differentiated higher education systems.
When it comes to enrollment and graduation, more students start school in the US when compared to the UK, but many more fail to complete a degree. Career attainments after graduation follow a similar pattern, with a tertiary degree being all but mandatory for the highest earnings in the US, while non-graduates in the UK enjoy a smaller earnings gap when compared to graduates each year.
The cost of education marks another sharp difference between the two countries, as the US regularly ranks among the highest tuition costs in the world while the UK typically falls near the upper third of international cost rankings. One way to drop the tuition costs is for Universities to save costs by using a modern student management system.
Regardless of their differences, it’s clear that the US and UK’s reputations for hosting the top schools in the world are in no danger.
Jami Morshed is the vice president of global higher education at Unit4. His responsibilities include the Unit4 Global Center of Excellence, which helps institutions prepare for the future through scalable and comprehensive software solutions that streamline and modernize core business processes while eliminating the burden of managing ever-changing technology.
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