People choose to study postgraduate degrees for many reasons, and they’re a great way to help you stand out.

Whether you’re looking to expand your knowledge, broaden your career horizons, or just searching for a change of pace, it’s important to consider whether postgraduate study could be right for you as you approach graduation.

Here are our top five reasons to choose postgraduate study:

1. Go further with your knowledge!

If you still feel you’ve got questions about your field of study, a postgraduate degree can be a great way to feed your curiosity as you go further into your fields of interest. Set yourself up for future research and answer the burning questions that you still have after your undergraduate degree.

2. Broaden your horizons…

If you’re on the fence about a postgraduate degree because you’re not sure about where you want to go next, that doesn’t mean you have to leave Bath Spa University. Many of our courses are available part-time, meaning they can fit around work, and some are low-residency or distance learning courses that you can undertake from afar – or even on a narrowboat!

And if you’ve got your eye on the big city, why not explore the options available at BSU London, including our MBA Leadership and MA Business and Management courses?

“The best thing about postgraduate study to be the niche exploration it allows - especially at Bath Spa. There are such interesting and unique courses on offer new ways of thinking about the world and my career.”

– Maria Stallman, MA Nature and Travel Writing and MA Environmental Humanities

3. Change it up!

A postgraduate course can be an opportunity to pursue new avenues of study that you’ve not been able to explore previously. You can change to a different subject and investigate something you encountered before in greater detail, or you can change tack completely to explore something you have a deep interest in but might not have been able to study at undergraduate level.

Don’t be afraid to explore all the options available to you, and reach out to course leaders and academics to see if their postgraduate courses could be right for you.

4. Invest in your career

"In 2022, 66.3% of working-age graduates were in high-skilled employment, compared to 78.3% of postgraduates and 23.6% of non-graduates."

– Graduate labour market statistics, 2022

Not heading into the workforce straight away can be a great way to invest in your future career. Government figures show that on average, people who've completed a postgraduate degree earn up to £6,500 more a year, with 78% of working age people who have completed postgraduate study in employment.

In 2022, the median nominal salary for working-age graduates was £38,500. This was £11,500 more than working-age non-graduates (£27,000), but £6,500 less than working-age postgraduates (£45,000).

– Graduate labour market statistics, 2022

Taking the time to study in your area of interest at postgraduate level can give you the specialist skills to pursue a high-level career that you love.

5. Acquire specialist knowledge

Whether you want to springboard a career in academia, or get further into research, there’s no doubt that postgraduate degrees are a sure way to gain the specialist knowledge required to make you an expert in your chosen subject. At BSU you can work alongside world-leading scholars and make a mark in your field of study.

“I have grown so much as a person and have gained so much more insight into what I can offer the world...”

– Maria Stallman, MA Nature and Travel Writing and MA Environmental Humanities

Go Further at BSU

As a graduate of Bath Spa University, you'll be eligible for our Alumni Scholarship, entitling you to £2,000 off course fees for postgraduate study (in the 2024/25 academic year). This is true whether you’re studying your final year now, or you completed your studies some time ago.

If you want to find out more about whether postgraduate study at BSU is right for you, attend an upcoming open event, or head to our Go Further page.