"All these media studies courses on which students are told relentlessly that magazines are like any other commodity"

Faye Davies writes of this article about the magazine industry: "Some more assumptions from someone who hasn't been near a Media degree for........15 years?"

From surfing to brewing beer: 'Mickey Mouse' courses have come of age, says university body

Not actually about media degrees, but this article makes interesting reading:

"Degrees in computer games technology, golf management, brewing and distilling, and cosmetic science are among those flourishing, says the group that represents Britain's universities, in a report aimed at proving how closely higher education is working with employers to provide vocational skills."

Let's start the debate

The "Are media degrees a mickey mouse option" article has become as regular a feature in newspapers as the annual A levels debate. Often these articles are misleading in their portrayal of the employability prospects of media graduates, and misleading in their picture of what a media degree actually consists of, not to mention blaming the very existence of media studies for crimes ranging from the decline of science degrees to poor literacy.

This blog seeks to provide a repository of these articles, and statistics and research regarding media studies, but also, and more importantly, a forum for debating the issues raised, and for students and academics to give their own experiences, positive or negative. Should media degrees be studied, and why? What shape should they take? What is the relative importance of practical and theoretical skills? What issues are overlooked? Please contribute by commenting on the posts - or if you want to post an article yourself, contact me on paul.bradshaw@uce.ac.uk and I'll make you a member with posting permissions.