Science and technology salaries prove tempting for school-leavers

SCHOOL-LEAVERS who want to earn high salaries and explore exciting career opportunities at home and abroad are being spurred into studying science and technology by an expert in the field.

A new report by Forfás shows that starting salaries for science, engineering and technology graduates are among the highest of all Irish graduates. Now the head of the School of Science at Waterford Institute of Technology Paul Barry says there’s never been a better time to study in this field.

The Comparative Starting Salaries and Career Progression in Science, Engineering and Technology report shows that across a range of qualifications from primary degree to PhD level, graduates in disciplines with a strong science and technology content tend to be better paid than graduates in other disciplines.

After medicine and healthcare, the next highest paid graduates at primary degree level are those in engineering, computing and science. Within the engineering disciplines, chemical and processing engineers are the highest paid in their first year of work with 23% earning in excess of €33,000.

Within the computer sector, Business Information Systems graduates are the highest paid with 21% of these graduates also earning in excess of €33,000.

Salaries compare favourably with non-science, engineering and technology disciplines and particularly with the humanities, commerce/business studies and law. Only 3% of humanities graduates and 5% of commerce and business studies graduates earn more than €33,000 in their first year. None of the primary degree Law graduates surveyed earned over €33,000, and only 25% earned over €23,800.

Mr Barry said: “It is also encouraging that the report finds that after a severe fall off in 2001/2002, applications for engineering/technology, which includes many Information and Communications Technology (ICT) courses, have stabilised.