What is a mickey mouse course?

I don't get it cause different people find different subjects hard. Some are good at a certain subject while others won't be.

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Reply 1

ancientone

Riddy

I don't get it cause different people find different subjects hard. Some are good at a certain subject while others won't be.

Totally agree-there'sa lot of intellectual arrogance around certain subjects.

Reply 2

Comp_Genius

what, you want a precise definition of a "mickey mouse subject"?

Reply 3

nikk

A 'Mickey Mouse' course is defined by some as "courses that have little intellectual content and were not related to employment needs". Another could be "Where the content of the course is perhaps not as rigorous as one would expect and the degree itself may not have huge relevance to the labour market".

I took these from this interesting article: http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,874230,00.html

'Mickey Mouse' courses are often said to be those that are non-traditional and/or non-academic. Media Studies and Golf Management are the ones that spring to mind as being referred to as 'Mickey Mouse' subjects (Disclaimer: this is not necessarily my opinion - more general public opinion).

Reply 4

Comp_Genius

can you do golf management??? :confused:

Reply 5

black_mamba

I'm arrogant and proud. I don't have an issue with people studying something like media studies if they're genuinely interested in the subject matter, but I'm not able to sympathise with them when they can't get a job after graduating.

A 'Mickey Mouse' course was defined as one "where the content is perhaps not as rigorous as one would expect and where the degree itself may not have huge relevance in the labour market".

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2657849.stm

Reply 6

nikk

darkenergy

can you do golf management??? :confused:

Yes scarily enough they do!! :eek:

http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/CdT6OGXYdWIPxdpmcBrE91EKV5MA3-VLHo/HAHTpage/search.HsSearch.submitForm?txtSubject=golf&cmbQual=&cmbAttend=&cmbInst=

EDIT - My university offers 'Surf Science'! :eek:

I'm so ashamed! :p:

Reply 7

ancientone

black_mamba

but that's not intellectual arrogance. I don't have a problem with that argument. I have a problem with people who believe that their subject is inherrently superior to every other subject, and that they, as a rseult, are inherrently superior just because of the subject matter they're interested in.

Reply 8

Comp_Genius

Here is a list of mickey mouse degrees, taken from the BBC news:
decision making
stained glass
golf management
air-conditioning
citizenship studies ("**** that happens in the world" studies)
turfgrass science
amenity horticulture
surf and beach management
gender studies
strategic information management

Reply 9

black_mamba

ancientone

Yep! I used to fall into the group of people that thought anything technical and scientific was always superior to the arts, but now I'm more inclined to appreciate a course's worth by how much the students put into it - a media studies degree for example can be taken to a very dense level (although it doesn't seem that way looking at module guides for the subject). So yeah, no problem with the subject at hand as long as the student appreciates it fully.

But sometimes it's hard for people to not feel superior to a subject that only requires 6 hours of lectures a week when they have to attend 30. By that reasoning my course (the 30hour one) is five times better! (I'm an engineering student, can you tell?) :biggrin:

What does surf science teach people?

Reply 10

nikk

ancientone

I believe that the reason many people have a problem with it is because it costs the country a lot of money to fund all these courses. That is acceptable if the graduates are gaining skills that are valuable to the job market and country as a whole, but if it is a subject that is of little use other than personal interest, they see this as a waste of tax payers money.

Related to this, I heard recently that people with Forensic Science degrees cannot actually become Forensic Scientists anymore. As they are not qualified in a pure science (i.e. Chemistry), their evidence is not holding up in court as they are not deemed to be sufficiently qualified. I am not sure of truth of this, but is something interesting that I heard.

As for other subjects that are often called 'Mickey Mouse' subjects, I would be interested to see the employment statistics for recent graduates from those subjects.

Reply 11

Comp_Genius

Paul Marston offers a half-hearted defence of the subject he studied for three years. "Media studies is more relevant to the outside world than, say, maths," he says listlessly.

OMG??? WTF?

Reply 12

nas7232

Ann robinson seems to think law at UWE is a mickey mouse degree too, anyone see this yesterday? I was flicking the channels when she said "oh, a mickey mouse degree from a mickey mouse university." :confused:

Reply 13

nikk

black_mamba

What does surf science teach people?

How to surf? lol...I just heard of someone in my year that was on that course! :p:

Reply 14

What's Chico Time Precious?

Film Studies?
I'm sure they watch Disney at some point, heh. :smile:

Reply 15

black_mamba

A film studies degree would make for an excellent hobby. :wink:

Reply 16

nikk

Yeah I study a BSc in Film Studies about three times a week, generally in the evening whilst lying in bed :smile:

(sorry, lol :p:

)

Reply 17

ancientone

i'm not here to defend every degree course, I'm sure there are people who are on the courses will be more than capable of doing that, and probably far better than I could. My point is that it's all too easy to condemn a degree course whilst being in ignorant of the real content and demans. As far as some of those instanced above goes though:
Turfgrass Science-the international institute for sports turf is in Bingley, West Yorkshire and it's provided the turf for the world's mpst prestigious sporting venues for at least 30 years that I know of-makes a fortune for the country and demands a high level of scientific and horticultural knowledge;
stained glass-I recently spent a very instructive afternoon watching someone install a new stained glass window in Manchester Cathedral-amazing. A lot of this I would imagine is also to do with conservation of some of the most maginificent glass in the world-walk around any medieval cathedral and realise what it takes to ensure the conserbation of such national treasures;
decision making- I really wish that some of my previous bossess had some knowledge of effective decision making-would have made everyone's life much easier and more productive;
golf management-I expect that some of these graduates will earn far more money than most of us on this forum-there are islands in this world that are purely golf courses and the money they make is unbelievable-you are talking about millions per year-that requires first class facilities, control of staff, budgets, intensive knowledge of the sport and entertainment industry etc..

Just four examples form those quoted above with my limited knowledge. I'm not trying to say that any subject is more important than any other. I really think it's that most of us just don't really understand exactly what's involved in other subjects,

Reply 18

nikk

In response to the above post, I would suggest that the point is that these subjects do not require an undergraduate degree. Traditionally, the required skills have been learned through on-the-job training and apprenticeships.

Reply 19

happydinosaur

ancientone

But maybe a degree in these rather narrow fields is taking things a bit too far. How many jobs are there avalible that are in the field of turf for prestigious sporting venues. On the other side of the arguement though I suppose some of these courses will provide transferable skills useful for jobs in other sectors. But this makes me think that a degree in golf management isn't needed to do that job just a degree which gives the skills which can be used to take on the job.