What are the Most Popular Postgraduate Subjects in the UK?

More and more people have been choosing to study a Masters over the past few years and it may well be that this trend continues.

Perhaps the graduate job market isn't as enticing as you'd hoped it would be right now, or perhaps you're working from home with a bit more time on your hands. Either way, a Masters can be an effective and surprisingly flexible way to improve your situation. Of course, it can also be a way to dive deeper into a subject you really love. There's nothing wrong with that, incidentally. Yours truly did a Masters in Gothic Literature (yes, really).

But which subjects are most popular? And do lots of other graduates take your subject further with a Masters?

This information is interesting, but it can also be quite useful. You can see whether your subject is popular at postgrad level and get some idea whether other job seekers in related careers are more or less likely to have a Masters.

The table below gives the official numbers for people studying different subjects at postgraduate taught level (so, Masters degrees, as well as shorter courses like Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas, but not PhDs) at UK universities. You can read a little bit more about the data at the bottom of this page.

Compared to previous years, numbers have dropped across the board likely due to the lasting impact of Covid-19. Healthcare subjects and Education has remained ahead of Business and Management this past year. Vocational subjects have long been popular with lots of students taking up PGCEs or other professional qualifications after getting their first degree. The fact that specific funding is available for teaching and healthcare certainly helps!

Although Business and Management has not regained any popularity, it's still the third most commonly taken subject. This category shows that MBAs and other Business Masters degrees can really provide an edge. They're also popular with people looking to progress in their career, as well as new graduates.

Other subjects are a bit less popular at the moment, so perhaps there's an opportunity for Agriculture grads to plough new fields and Mathematics grads to get their numbers up with some extra training. Sorry.

We've worked out the most popular postgraduate subjects using information published by the UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). They collect data and publish official statistics for UK higher education.

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