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?

purple makes a excellent point. There's a reason graduate accounting firms specifically target history and English graduates.

I’m a secondary school teacher and have covered or been in careers classes.

This course sounds refreshing, as:

Britain has enough lawyers for the next 10 years, so there is little point in doing a degree in it.

Criminal Psychology which is an incredibly popular course has practically no career openings. There just aren’t enough evil psychos in the country. I think the employment is something like 6 specialists in this a year.

At least theme park management could lead to actual jobs. Especially at the robots are coming and it is assumed people will have more leisure time

I got those skills from music and drama (dropped Lit after 1st year). Drama was much more useful to me.

@Comefromaway so you didn't do a degree in English Lit, I'm not sure you can really make a fair assessment as to how useful an English lit degree is after a year, especially when the first year is generally lighter touch. You're being deliberately obtuse, I'm not sure how a music or drama degree appears any less "random" than your English Lit example. You're just proving my point, that overarching topics cover a variety of important job skills, which you've achieved.

But this degree provides specific skills needed in a particular business sector and is therefore just as valid, if not more so than so called traditional academic subjects.

Round here the number of England dh, history, psychology, whatever graduates who are unemployed is very high. The people with the jobs are the ones who have more vocational degrees.

And how many history graduates vs theme park management graduates are there? That isn't a fair comparison. I may as well say well look how many history graduates have jobs vs theme park graduates, doesnt work. Of course there will be higher rates of unemployment across subjects like history that are taught at most universities, vs something very specific at one, it's completely incomparable.

It's just about keeping your options open, I'm sure a theme park manager could do any base degree and if necessary specialist qualifications and be suitably qualified (though I imagine experience is key) with the option of many other career paths being open to them if that fails, a theme park management degree is quite specific at quite a low level of education, it's unlikely you're going to walk into a management level position after uni without some experience first (these days).

I think it's better to keep degrees broad, developing the basic skills that many core subjects can bring, and get specialist qualifications down the line where necessary post graduate (or CPD). I'm generalising of course, some sectors like NHS won't work like that.

So many 18 year olds don't know what they want, it's quite risky to do something so specific so young. I like the American college system where you take a number of subjects and major down the line.

There's a place for both of these types of degrees. Some young people know exactly what they want to do and follow that path accordingly. Others are less sure so choosing a traditional subject and making the most of their time at university (that bit is key!) Is a good option for academically able students.

The intake is 20 students, several will not be 18 and my guess is several will already be working for Alton Towers/Merlin anyway. Quite a few work there on gap years I know of.

You're more than likely right. The course will have been developed due to the demand of the labour market.