A university degree is no longer a clear route to a well-paid career. One in three graduates is overqualified for their job, according to The Office for National Statistics (ONS). And yet this year a record number of 18-year-olds in England applied for a place at university, according to Ucas (figures for students across the UK were also up on 2018).

With fees now sitting at £9,250 per year of study, return on investment should be taken into account when choosing what to study.

So which courses might prove to be “Mickey Mouse” degrees, and which should young people avoid if high earnings are on their priority list?

The low 10

1. Creative Arts or Creative Arts and Design

This degree has a recurring spot among the lowest earning degrees. Five years after graduation, men and women who studied creative arts and design were on the lowest median earnings (£20,200) rising to only £23,200 10 years after graduation, according to the 2018 release from the Department for Education’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data. Figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which control for the socio-economic background and prior attainment of graduates, still put this degree subject on the bottom rung for earnings five years after graduation (£22,192 for men; £21,246 for women).