Thursday 4 December 2014

Arts vs science: data wins

As I [Charlie Ball of HECSU] never tire of telling people, my PhD is in analytical chemistry. Therefore, in the great Arts vs Science debate, my sympathy naturally lies with the evidence.

So, should people stop opting for the arts en masse because they won't get jobs, and go for STEM, where they will?

Let’s have a look at the data. As usual, we'll take a look at DLHE. I am a creature of habit, and besides, it does the job perfectly well.

Just to get the methodology straight, we’re looking at UK domiciled first degree graduates from 2012/13. Arts and humanities are defined as JACS codes Q to W, so covering languages, classics, the humanities, the arts and the creative arts. It doesn't include law, media, business or the social sciences.

STEM is classed as JACS codes C to J. It covers the biological and physical sciences, maths, computing, engineering and the material sciences. It doesn’t cover building or medical subjects.

See the evidence for yourself and read the conclusions.

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