As a family, we’re now entering a new chapter with Lillie as she begins exploring her options for higher education. With college life now a reality, we’ve found ourselves having more frequent conversations about the true value of university, not just academically, but in terms of future opportunities, personal growth, and long-term success. It’s a big decision, and like many parents, we’re weighing up what university really offers in today’s ever-changing world. That’s why the article below really struck a chord—it digs into whether university is still “worth it,” especially in an era when success stories often begin outside the lecture hall.
With stories of tech unicorns, digital disruptors and self-made success stories flooding news feeds and social media channels, it’s tempting to believe that traditional education has lost its edge in the wealth-building race. Instead, the dropout founder has become a cultural icon – proof that hustle and digital street smarts can outpace a degree.
And yet, behind the headlines, a closer look at this year’s Sunday Times Rich List suggests that for many of Britain’s wealthiest individuals, university (especially elite education) remains a key ingredient of success.
Whether they launched companies from ivy-clad colleges or coded the next trending app in a student apartment in London, many of today’s financial titans still point to university as a core catalyst. While YouTube-taught coders and TikTok entrepreneurs capture the zeitgeist, education hasn’t been left behind. It’s fair to say that it’s evolved, and in some quarters, quietly consolidated its role as the “golden goose” for those aiming for the financial summit.
Degrees Defining Dynasties
Many entries on this year’s Rich List include the phrase “and family” – a nod to the business partners, heirs, or quiet co-architects behind the named individual’s fortune. While they’re not always listed by name, it’s fair to assume they play a role in shaping or inheriting that wealth.
Using publicly available bios and previous Rich List entries, the list can be expanded to include unnamed family members, bringing the total to around 500 individuals. Among the 332 with recorded higher education, some academic themes appear again and again – pointing to a clear link between what (and where) Britain’s wealthiest studied.
As one might expect, Business-focused degrees top the list. Business Administration, as a field of study, appears 24 times within the expanded list, closely followed by Economics (18 entries). These aren’t just theoretical fields, of course; They provide frameworks for raising capital, managing risk, and leading companies across market cycles.
Law, as a field of study, comes in strong too, often serving as a launchpad not only into legal careers but into boardrooms across private equity, real estate, and media. It teaches rigour, negotiation, and how to thrive in complexity – qualities every billionaire needs in surplus.
Then, there are courses in engineering. In today’s tech-heavy climate, innovation is wealth’s most potent driver, and engineering graduates are increasingly seen behind today’s fortunes, combining technical precision with scalable vision. Eight entries on the Rich List are engineering graduates, while mathematics and mechanical engineering feature prominently too. These are the builders of modern infrastructure – software, renewable energy, biotech – and increasingly, they’re not just designing the future, but owning it.
Institutions of Influence
Naturally, what one studies is important – but so, too, is where one studies. As with each year, 2025’s Rich List reads like an alumni brochure for a handful of prestigious institutions. Oxford and Cambridge dominate not just as academic powerhouses, but as ecosystems of influence. Between them, at least 20 entries on this year’s list passed through Oxbridge’s ancient halls, benefiting from not only education, but centuries-old networks forged through dining societies, private clubs, mentorship rings, and a culture of strategic peer alignment.
Notable names abound. Billionaire financier Michael Spencer read physics at Oxford. The late Sir David Barclay, media mogul, also passed through the hallowed Oxbridge gates. Their alma maters provided more than education, offering lifelong access to capital, credibility, and cultural cachet.
Beyond Oxbridge, Harvard Business School appears several times, its MBA program operating as a kind of social currency for those eyeing hedge funds, venture capital, and global boardrooms.
Closer to home, the London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh, and University of Nottingham also show up with regularity, reinforcing their role as credible springboards into Britain’s financial elite.
In total, over 130 of the formally educated Rich List members studied in the UK. That’s nearly 40% of the expanded list we looked at, proving that the British higher education system remains one of the world’s most effective engines for upward mobility and economic influence.
An Evolving Asset
The academic routes taken by Britain’s wealthiest mirror the changing face of the economy. In the post-war era, law, engineering, and commerce aligned with an industrial nation. By the 1980s and ’90s, MBAs and financial specialisations reflected the rise of global capital. Today, we see another shift in focus – one of tech, media, and decentralised innovation.
This divergence in course has given rise to the successful, self-taught and digital-first elite. Figures like Ben Francis (Gymshark) and John Caudwell (Phones4U) are modern icons of education-through-execution. Their success doesn’t negate the value of formal education, but it does redefine it. They’ve curated knowledge from platforms, mentors, and lived experience – often with the intensity and discipline of any degree program.
These founders haven’t displaced university courses, however – they’ve merely broadened the definition of what it means to “learn”. In doing so, they remind us that while education isn’t always linear, it is almost always present in the backdrop of success.
Access, Not Just Accolades
For those without inherited capital, a university education remains one of the few reliable equalisers. It opens doors not just to new knowledge, but to new people, new capital, and new ways of thinking. It brings proximity to power.
But as the data shows, the real differentiator isn’t the degree – it’s what individuals do with it. The most successful graduates don’t see university as an end of education, but as a beginning of the rest of their lives. They turn lectures into companies, classmates into co-founders, and research projects into revenue models. They understand that education isn’t just about subject mastery – it’s about strategically positioning yourself for the future.
In that light, university is less about curriculum and more about connection. It’s a platform, not a product.
New Routes Exist, But Education Endures
In truth, there’s no singular path to affluence and success, and that’s never been more true than it is today. And yes, many of the most magnetic success stories told today are marked with non-traditional routes, but among Britain’s richest, one thread continues to weave quietly through portfolios and boardrooms alike; An elite education, serving first and foremost as a credential, but also as an invaluable cultural, strategic, and social asset. Whether earned at Oxbridge or built on YouTube, education – in all forms – remains a defining force behind the making of modern wealth.