Students to assess earnings potential of different courses with Government data

Ministers are working to release information that will allow the public to compare further education subjects

The information, which will be made available to internet developers, will also eventually include data on the earnings of past apprentices and potentially even school leavers (Getty)

Students will be able to see how much they stand to earn in the future depending on which subjects they choose to study and where they choose to study them, under radical plans to open up Government data to the public.

Ministers are working to release huge tracts of anonymised information that will, for the first time, allow the public to compare the earnings potential of individual courses at further education colleges and universities.

The information, which will be made available to internet developers, will also eventually include data on the earnings of past apprentices and potentially even school leavers. This would potentially allow teenagers to see how much former pupils at their school are now earning on average.

Under the plans, HMRC is releasing anonymised government data sets which reveal the earnings of everyone paying tax in the UK. This data can then be cross-referred to records of past students studying at further education colleges that is also held by the Government. Ministers are also in negotiation with universities to get higher education institutions to release the data they hold on their students to allow accurate comparison to be made across the board about future prospects of their students.

Matthew Hancock, minister for the Cabinet Office, is understood to have been impressed by a similar scheme in the US during a visit to the White House last month.

Today, the Government is hosting a major conference of web developers in London, who will be invited to use Whitehall datasets including school performance tables and earning outcomes in a bid to kick-start private sector development of new online services for young people.

The Obama administration’s online “College Scorecard”, launched in 2013, grants prospective students in America access to federal data allowing them to compare universities based on factors such as graduation rates and salary levels achieved by former students.

However, any such scheme in the UK is likely to likely to face criticism from academics who argue that financial gain alone should not be a reason to choose a course.

The scheme is the latest attempt by the Government to exploit “big data” and has echoes of the Department of Health’s programme to publish hospital statistics to improve patient choice. The approach is now being brought to bear on the problem of youth unemployment, in the hope that young people who can see the earnings potential of studying a particular course will be more motivated to enter education. Figures show 683,000 young people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in June to August 2015, down 50,000 from the previous year.

Mr Hancock said: “It’s hugely exciting that the Government is now embracing new ways of solving common problems. There’s a huge opportunity to use new technology to make sure that every young person gets the best start in life. We want to seize that opportunity to help everyone achieve their full potential.”

Gavin Starks, CEO of the Open Data Institute, welcomed the “Job Hack” conference. “We look forward to hearing how the innovations that emerge today will be used to inform policy and potentially build businesses that can provide tangible and sustainable solutions to youth unemployment,” he said.