Research shows postgraduates can earn more

Research shows postgraduates can earn more

South and East Auckland residents now have greater opportunities to boost their earning potential with postgraduate study programmes moving closer to home.

AUT University’s Manukau campus is offering a range of new postgraduate programmes at the two-year old campus from 2012, in line with studies that show those with postgraduate degrees earn significantly more than people holding undergraduate degrees.

Studies in New Zealand, the UK and US show that people with higher qualifications tend to enjoy more, and better, employment opportunities. A NZ Ministry of Education report estimates that people who completed one-year postgraduate qualifications had salaries around 16% higher than those with a bachelor’s degree in the first year after study, and 9% higher after three years.

Associate Professor Marion Jones, who is also Dean, AUT University Postgraduate Studies and the Academic Lead for the Manukau campus, says “AUT’s Manukau campus is poised for postgraduate study. We are already looking to 2020 in terms of our academic planning, and how postgraduate research can reach out and bring benefits to the community.”

The UK research, reported recently in the Times Higher Education magazine, goes on to suggest that the growth of technology in today’s workplace, in particular the increasingly sophisticated use of computers and the skills required, means those with higher degrees often command higher salaries than their bachelor degree colleagues.

AUT University’s Associate Professor Dr Tony Clear, who is also Associate Head of School - Computing & Mathematical Sciences, says “In the IT field, new roles in services computing, such as enterprise architect, application architect, software engineer, service designer, capacity planner, storage and data architects and cloud computing system administrators are being added to the traditional IT occupations. Our Master of Service-Oriented Computing aims to produce professionals with the skills to serve the latest trends in computing where computing is delivered as a service, on demand, globally available and ready to scale as the needs of workplaces grow.”

Alongside its undergraduate programmes, AUT University’s Manukau campus now offers postgraduate qualifications in computing, child health, physical activity and nutrition, arts, and education. Postgraduate study can be staircased from a Postgraduate Certificate through to Diploma and Masters Degrees and Doctorates.

More information can be found online at www.autmanukau.ac.nz

ENDS