Adam Smith Institute

The Taxpayers' Alliance have been making waves with Peter Cuthbertson's report on university 'non-courses." Widely covered by the BBC and major newspapers, the report highlights 401 such courses, which it says cost £40m a year to run. For its top five it picks out
 • Outdoor adventure with philosophy, at Marjon, the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth
 • Science: fiction and culture, at the University of Glamorgan
 • Equestrian psychology, at the Welsh College of Horticulture in Mold, Flintshire
 • Fashion buying, at Manchester Metropolitan University
 • Golf management, at UHI Millennium Institute, based in Inverness.

Author Peter Cuthbertson says that political priorities have driven governments to increase the numbers attending university, and "As a result, there has been a massive expansion of 'non-degrees' of little or no academic merit." His findings have been attacked by Universities UK, who report that the so-called non-courses were provided in response to demand, and are in fact over-subscribed. Well, yes, but could that be because they are easier? Just as some students are going for less demanding A-levels, might they not also be choosing easier degree courses?

If university courses were not subsidized by public money, students might be reluctant to take on huge debts to gain degrees of dubious worth.

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