Sir Peter Lampl has commented on research produced by insurance company gocompare.com which shows that the majority of the top tier of dollar billionaires across the globe are more than likely to have gone to university.
Degree educated
The research focused on people appearing in the top 100 billionaire rich lists by Forbes magazine from over the past two decades.
Of the billionaires studied, 76% of them held a degree. Breaking the figures down: 47% had a bachelor’s degree, 23% a master’s degree and 6% a doctorate.
Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, commented on the research: “It’s no surprise that many of the world’s richest people have postgraduate degrees from top universities.
“Our own research has identified a postgraduate wage premium of £200,000 in lifetime earnings.
“We do need to make sure that the financial rewards and opportunities post graduate degrees offer are available to bright people from all backgrounds not just the well-off.”
Elite
The research found that elite institutions rather than local colleges proved to be far more popular with the global mega rich.
Examples of the favoured elite institutions from across the globe were listed in the research:
- In the US, Harvard is most likely name to be found on the CV of a billionaire in the States.
- With the Tech community founding an increasing number of billionaires, the Californian Stanford University has proven a popular launchpad. Co-founder of Google Sergey Brin was a postgraduate at Stanford.
- Moscow State University is one of the most popular places of study in Russia for the country’s billionaires.
- Unsurprisingly, Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics lay claim to the most UK multi-billionaires.
Fair access
The cost of higher education has been a hot topic of conversation for many countries for a number of years and whether the current university system is entrenching division rather than promoting social mobility.
The Sutton Trust works to combat educational inequality and prevent wasted talent irrelevant of background. The Trust is keen to promote a system which allows young people to prosper regardless of factors such as family background, school or neighbourhood.
Learn more about the Trust’s work: http://www.suttontrust.com/programmes/
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