Are mickey mouse degrees just easy money for universities?

I wonder, because universities can have "tourism management" and "media studies" courses and charge ~ £3000 a year just for something with less intellectual content and often cheaper staff. I'm sure some vice-chancellors rub their hands with glee for every person who takes up a doss "degree".

Just a thought. No offence to anyone on such courses.

Reply 1

najeezy

12

no, not really, the staffing costs are similar as like other courses, why would it differ from any other course? + any degree undertaken gives a high prospect of employment for a lot of jobs not to mention the field they have actually studied.

Reply 2

bennh

11

I'm thinking it varies a little bit for all types of degree, especially the ones with less contact hours etc. :smile:

Reply 3

NDGAARONDI

16

If anything, the rise in tuition fees may turn away would-be students because they don't think that the subject is deemed worthy of the fees for how little contact time prospective students will get. Why should a sociologist, having seven hours of contact time a week, pay the same as an engineer who has thirty hours of contact time a week?

Reply 4

yoyo462001

16

Not at all, they are merely providing a service for those who demand it. The uni doesn't benefit from not getting people into graduate jobs, so they still aim for the same things you'd expect from a university regardless of the course.

Reply 5

quietlyconfidenttttt

Liquidus Zeromus

I wonder, because universities can have "tourism management" and "media studies" courses and charge ~ £3000 a year just for something with less intellectual content and often cheaper staff. I'm sure some vice-chancellors rub their hands with glee for every person who takes up a doss "degree".

Just a thought. No offence to anyone on such courses.

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

Reply 6

AnonymousPenguin

16

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

This post reminds of tv interviews of striking workers saying that they should be paid more than white-collared professionals since they work hard lifting heavy objects while the professionals just sit in their offices all day shuffling paper that is much lighter than the aforementioned objects. Anyway, the point I'm making is that you simply don't know what a degree in one of those subjects you describe as "intellectual subjects" entitles.

Reply 7

Liquidus Zeromus

OP

17

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

Wow, parts of those subjects! Of course tourism is important, but you don't need tourism management degrees to go into the tourism industry. You could apply the same argument to the retail industry. Retail management? You learn how to competently retail in A-level business studies. The extension of that to an advanced level is Marketing or Business Administration at A-level. There are some respectable management variations but I don't think that Tourism management is a proper management degree, even if it's dressed up like that.
Tourism companies will train you in the specific tricks of the trade. Most companies will prefer in-depth generalist management at undergraduate level. There are some respectable Tourism Masters' degrees though, as you have more room to specialise there. Tourism management won't give you the skills that a straight business management degree will, as the hard business elements may be watered down. The intellectual content of Business Management degrees is often important.

Tourism management would be a "mickey mouse" degree because of Disneyland resorts anyway :mmm:

Reply 8

Dirac Spinor

10

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

Excuse me but I think you're going a bit overboard here.
Let's just take maths, seeming adit is one of the subjects that you seem to think you study to such a high level. Do you have to do rigour, analysis and Bayesian probability? Because unless you do maths graduates are going to piss themselves laughing at the idea that a tourism student thinks they do a comparable level of maths.
doing a few modules is not going to save the image of a degree.

Reply 9

yoyo462001

16

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

Therefore you are on the same level as mathematicians and economists, I presume that's where you were going with this...

Reply 10

quietlyconfidenttttt

yoyo462001

Therefore you are on the same level as mathematicians and economists, I presume that's where you were going with this...

no . . . im saying my course aint a mickey mouse one or why would they take time out for economic/finance/management lecturers if they're not needed n it was 'mickey mouse' course? . . . what would be the point ?
why would the course be created . .

Reply 11

yoyo462001

16

quietlyconfidenttttt

no . . . im saying my course aint a mickey mouse one or why would they take time out for economic/finance/management lecturers if they're not needed n it was 'mickey mouse' course? . . . what would be the point ?
why would the course be created . .

I'm not saying your doing a mickey mouse degree...

Reply 12

ChemistBoy

16

Liquidus Zeromus

I wonder, because universities can have "tourism management" and "media studies" courses and charge ~ £3000 a year just for something with less intellectual content and often cheaper staff. I'm sure some vice-chancellors rub their hands with glee for every person who takes up a doss "degree".

Just a thought. No offence to anyone on such courses.

To be honest most of these courses are more expensive to run than English or History. Also, why do you think the staff are cheaper? Universities have fixed pay-scales for academic staff regardless of specialism.

Reply 13

RBarack

2

Here is a rough quote from an accounting lecturer (one of my closest friend's mum):

"Don't do a degree in business or management. Not only is it completely unnecessary if you want to enter commerce later on, it's the cheapest subject for a university to teach: universities only offer it to get additional funding from students."

Of course it's a slight exaggeration, but I guess it bears some truth.

Reply 14

RBarack

2

quietlyconfidenttttt

no . . . im saying my course aint a mickey mouse one or why would they take time out for economic/finance/management lecturers if they're not needed n it was 'mickey mouse' course? . . . what would be the point ?
why would the course be created . .

Additional funding for your university, as the OP speculates. No discredit to your degree at all.

Reply 15

billydisco

3

najeezy

any degree undertaken gives a high prospect of employment for a lot of jobs not to mention the field they have actually studied.

Oh give over mate!

So why do graduates of media studies and ex-poly unis find it harder to get employment?

Reply 16

billydisco

3

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

We didnt say tourism is pointless...... we said a degree in tourism is pointless..

How did our tourism industry cope before tourism degrees existed?

Its people like you who would have plumbers doing plumbing degrees!

Reply 17

RBarack

2

billydisco

Oh give over mate!

So why do graduates of media studies and ex-poly unis find it harder to get employment?

Do they?

Reply 18

Byllie

quietlyconfidenttttt

its people like you that dont realise how important tourim is to our country, it pisses me off when people say my degree is pointless or ''less intellectual'' . . . i have to do marketing, management, finance, economics, fundamentals, Law and ICT . . in seperate modules . . . thats parts of LAW . . .MATHS, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT . . . are those considered 'intellectual subjects'
cos i have to study ALL of them . . . .

By maths you probably mean adding and subtracting

Law you probably mean watching legally blonde

Management probably involves doing your halls' washing

Finance - learning how to weigh, bag, and price coke

ICT - Porn/mini-games

Reply 19