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Graduates earn hugely different salaries depending on what subject they study and which university they attend, new research has found.
According to research into graduate employment and earnings by the 1994 group, science graduates from the old research-intensive universities will earn much more than graduates with arts and social science degrees from the newer teaching-led institutions.
A third (31.7%) of science and technology graduates from research-intensive universities (those in the Russell and 1994 groups) earn between £30,000 and £49,999 three years after leaving university. This compares with 12.4% of graduates from less prestigious institutions, the study found.
Just 16% of graduates in arts and social sciences from research-intensive universities expect to earn that amount of money and only 8.8% from other institutions.
Graduates in almost every subject - apart from education - who study at research-intensive universities stand to earn more, the research found.
Newer universities argued that the data failed to take account of students' social background and school exam results.
If these factors were taken into consideration, the differences in earning potential after graduation would be lessened, they claimed.
Three years after leaving university, the earnings of graduates from the 1994 and Russell groups universities are likely to be higher than those of graduates from the rest of the sector. The Russell group universities include Manchester, Cambridge and Leeds. The 1994 group is made up of universities including Bath, Durham and York.
Research-intensive universities have a higher proportion of graduates engaged in graduate-level jobs after three years than newer institutions including former polytechnics.
Graduates from research-intensive universities are likely to be happier retrospectively with their choice of institution but there is little difference in the career satisfaction of graduates.
But Deian Hopkin, vice-chancellor of London South Bank University, speaking on behalf of new universities, argued that the data was unreliable, as it was based on a small sample of 13,000 students out of 600,000.
"If you control for prior attainment, social background and strip out medical schools and postgraduates, the differences would fall away," he argued.
He also argued the groupings of research-intensive versus "other institutions" were arbitrary.
Hopkin said LSBU ranks sixth for graduate employment but the definition of "graduate level" jobs excluded those who set up their own businesses, he said.
"Going to university is about improving students' prospects and ability to progress and help employers develop.
"Many people in inner cities can't go anywhere else but their prospects are just as important. It's not about social mobility, it's about fairness," he said.
Speaking at a Policy Exchange event to launch the report, Steve Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter and the 1994 group's chairman, said: "Students make very well considered choices when choosing institutions and courses – and these are decisions they don't regret further down the line.
"This research shows incontrovertibly that employment and earning potential are significantly enhanced by the experience of higher education.
"The value-added that students get from going to university is critically important but they do have a right to know the rate of return."
At the launch of the report, the shadow universities minister, David Willetts, said: "It's great we have diversity in the university system but there's an official conspiracy that all universities are the same; they are different.
"Young people are entitled to this information, especially when they are expected to borrow large amounts of money to go to university."
The Conservatives are working with Microsoft to create a database of the potential financial returns students can expect from getting a degree at different universities, Willetts announced.
The president of the National Union of Students, Wes Streeting, said: "It is very pleasing to note the striking similarity in employment rates for graduates from all types of institution three and a half years after leaving university.
"It is no surprise that graduates from research-intensive institutions go on to earn more on average. However, we need to remember that these returns are far from guaranteed, so these figures cannot be used to back up the argument for institutions to set their own fees."
Willetts row
Meanwhile, Willetts has been drawn into a row with his party over a report from right-wing think tank Reform that he helped launch.
The report calls for the limit on tuition fees to be scrapped, a flat-rate voucher system to pay for university and vocational training, and one-off grants of £13,000 for all young people.
But a spokesman for the Conservative party said creating a free market for higher education was not its policy and Willetts did not endorse the research paper.
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