Degree in Theme Park Management

[MarieG10]

On the news today was a piece about Staffordshire University and the diversity of courses they offer. They followed under graduates studying theme park management and filmed them at Alton Towers.

Am I out of kilter with this, but i feel this is yet another example of universities extracting £9k tuition fees from students when offering what is a useless degree? I assume (but don't know) that the entry requirements are very low or unconditional.

I feel sad for these young people who I think are being totally conned, being saddled with huge debts and expecting to leave university and have a realistic opportunity to apply for graduate level roles, when in reality probably won't even be considered (unless the role is actually in a theme park!). I employ people and the ones with what I class as Mickey Mouse degrees usually get sifted straight away which having given feedback when asked is sad and disheartening for them.

The reality is that if they are academically not suited to a quality degree, they are better suited to obtaining an apprenticeship and decent work experience.

AIBU?

For courses like that which have a small cohort, are not offered in many places and have a very clear career in mind the employability stats are surprisingly high!

I expect it could cover some interesting areas that are relevant to many roles - human resources, accounting, strategic planning. My concern would be that potential employers would overlook good candidates because of a niche course name.

Good point by emo also. A relative runs an equine studies course and her students rarely have problems finding work.

Is it this course?

www.staffs.ac.uk/course/visitor-attraction-resort-management-fda

If so it is a foundation degree with a paid work placement. You can then top it up to a degree in tourism management.

If they don’t get a decent job paying over £25,000, they have no debt. It’s a grad tax. Why doesn’t anyone understand this. They probably don’t have the qualifications to get on a degree course yet.

My neighbour despaired when one of his sons went to study "Surf Science" but actually it has very high graduation employment rates. The title doesn't necessarily tell you if the course is worth it - some with attractive titles actually know their market well and provide great skills. Others like a lot of Computer Science courses in the past don't really teach what the industry is looking for.

Is it this course?

www.staffs.ac.uk/course/visitor-attraction-resort-management-fda

Presumably, since Staffordshire don't seem to offer anything actually called Theme Park Management.

So in reality, a lot broader than just theme parks. But since the county of Staffordshire happens to be the location of one whacking great and very successful example of one, it would seem eminently sensible to utilise it as a partner in a course focusing on visitor attraction and resort management. And lots and lots of places have got those.

Those proclaiming "high graduate employment rate" does it actually give details of where they went on to work? My postgraduate university proudly boasted a 95% employment rate within 6 months, or something to that effect, for it's niche postgraduate course they were churning too many graduates out on, but they failed to mention most were in completely unrelated work that saw no benefit from the qualification.

The employment rate is a misnomer. I have graduates working for our company who are admin assistants and in effect wasted their time going to university as they came out with the degree equivalent of David Beckam studies.

One of them who was a lovely girl bemoaned to me how she had struggled to get what she termed a decent job and asked me to be honest with her....and I was. Unfortunately her head was filled with utter rubbish by 6th form teachers that getting D's and E's at A-level was still a pass (yes technically it is) but meant her degree choices were extremely limited and she took what I termed a non subject which was pretty useless for her and still saddled her with £50k of debt. If she applied for a higher level job with us, she would be automatically sifted as there are so many better qualified candidates with decent degree subjects that demonstrate a higher level of academic ability. Her only hope is to build experience and progress with that. But she could have done it anyway through an apprenticeship.

All of this when the government is proclaiming that we have this year achieved Tony Blair's target of 50% going into university education

Theme Park management? How fun would that be?

Does your company offer apprenticeships?

I studied a similar but not quite so specific degree and I am probably considered very successful now (earn over 100k in a job I enjoy).

I think general business or business management would be a better choice though!

Probably a useless degree but I'd love to do it for the field trips!

Yet another university bashing thread by someone who knows very little about higher education and graduate employability 🙄

Does your company offer apprenticeships?

I'm assuming not, or else this young woman might have been directed towards applying?

Sadly yet another misunderstanding of how student finance works. This employee has no debt in a low paying job. Sadly her experience and hopefully exemplary work record means nothing to this recruiter. If I was her I would leave as she’s not valued at all. So many employers come on here and sneer about people with no work experience. Now work experience isn’t valued either!

@MarchingFrogs . We don't currently offer apprenticeships although considering the options. However we will not be offering apprenticeships in areas of work such as administration, unlike some companies as we don't consider it a meaningful apprenticeship. If we do move to offer it will be in meaningful areas whereby they can study and we are able to offer a job on successful completion

@Benes Yet another university bashing thread by someone who knows very little about higher education and graduate employability 🙄

Sorry this is not someone who knows very little about the above. I know a lot and am very supportive of youngsters going in to further education, but dislike in effect what I see as young people being taken advantage of to just generate income for the universities, and being misled as to their likely prospects in the process.

Your posts actually suggest you know very little.

Yes, school and colleges have been criticised for promoting higher education as a preferred option but the tide is changing in that respect. Universities are actually very careful about what they promise. The CMA regulations make it very clear that only factual information can be presented. It's up to the young people and their parents to investigate all options available in order to make an informed decision. Unfortunately the absence of good quality careers advice and guidance has made that difficult for some. Again, this is changing.

Courses like the one you identified actually tend to have excellent employability statistics. Even if the students decided not to persue a career in that specific area the fact they've essentially studies a business and tourism management course and undertaken a significant placement makes them very employable.

@Benes Well I speak as someone who employs people and can refute some of the rubbish that is perpetuated by teaching and academic staff in some quarters and misleads young people that what they are studying will give them the opportunities they want.

What employability statistics? If the statistics are that they are in work within 6 months of graduating, well it is meaningless if they do not discern between entering a graduate level role as opposed to being an admin assistant. That is exactly the point for the staff member i mentioned.

Being an employer doesn't make you an expert on HE and graduate employability. It makes you knowledgeable about your sector and the people you employ.

All universities publish the headline figure which is the percentage of graduates in work or further study 6 months after graduation. However, they also have a graduate employment figures. This information is out there. This is changing though and will be reported 15 months after graduation and will include the 'graduate voice' so the students have an opportunity to express whether they felt their degree benefited them and their career prospects.

You're making some huge assumptions that universities don't care about their students and are all about money. Employability is a key strategic priority for universities and it has an huge impact on reputation.

Also, there is going to be information published on graduate salaries 1,3 and 5 years after graduation as it takes some people time to progress into a well paid job.
Graduate employability isn't the only measure of successful HE study and it's important to remember that.

OP, couldn’t agree more. A poor degree is worth less than 3 years’ work experience.

But students have to take some responsibility themselves. Even a poor degree can be hugely beneficial to the right student. It depends how they use their time while at university.

@Benes I don't claim to be an expert, but I would claim to be very knowledgable, and I'm not alone when discussing with professional colleagues in other sectors. I appreciate you feel strongly to the opposite, and I don't know from what professional background you come from, but a contrary view to what some school sixth forms and universities promote is a healthy challenge to point out that in my ( and many others ) view that the university product is not all it is being presented as when compared to the reality

The result is that many graduates leave university sadly with unrealistic expectations as to job and salary potential because of the poor degree subjectivity and content. Some of those that leave with poor degrees I accept do well, but from my experience a good proportion would have done so in any event without having wasted 3-4 years and acquiring a load of debt

It's not just that I feel strongly. This is my area of expertise. I've a significant amount of experience in HE (specifically student recruitment, marketing, careers and employability and as academic) I also work closely with schools and colleges across the UK. I teach, research and write about this subject.

While your experience is valid it is anecdotal and limited. I'm talking about the sector as a whole. There are lots of misconceptions and myths around higher education - some of which you've stated in your posts. It's frustrating to see them trotted out and presented as fact by people who don't have an understanding of sector.

Surely one employer who's field seems to be completely unrelated to tourism sayimg they won't employ people with a tourism degree is completely irrelevant? You don't speak for all employers

You are saying this girl who already works for you couldn't do a higher job, and should have done an apprenticeship which you don't offer, so she couldn't have done an apprenticehsip? She presumably is building experience?

Tbh I think a lot of young people know full well that some of these degrees aren't going to lead to fantastic careers, maybe they just wanted to go to university? And study soemthing they are interested in. We work our whole fucking lives why not postpone it for 3 years and enjoy ourselves?

It's quite irrelevant really if your debt is 50k if your not paying it off.