A-levels not so good? Go for a degree in patisserie technology!

UNIVERSITIES are offering hundreds of ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees in clearing for students who do not get their grades.

With A-level results out tomorrow, school leavers who miss out on their chosen courses will be forced to consider other options.

They can apply for courses with lower entry requirements through university admissions service Ucas’s website – known as clearing.

Among these courses are BAs in ‘body contour fashion’, ‘tournament golf’, ‘ outdoor adventure education’, ‘beauty promotion’ and ‘bakery and patisserie technology’.

Around 400 courses related to these specialisms are available, according to a degree course audit by the Daily Mail.

And they charge the full £9,250 per year fees, meaning students will graduate with almost £30,000 of debt – even before three years of living costs are considered.

Critics questioned yesterday how useful the degrees really were.

Christopher McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘We are encouraging so many youngsters to incur debt and underemployment by pursuing useless degrees, when they’d be far better going directly into employment, training and apprenticeships.’

Dozens of the courses stipulate minimal entry requirements.

The ‘ outdoor adventure education’ offered by Plymouth Marjon University, asks for CCD grades. In the third year students must complete a ‘ research dissertation or personal adventure’.

And clearing currently has at least 200 courses related to fashion. Options include ‘body contour fashion’ at Cleveland College of Art and Design, which requires A-level grades of CCC. The course description invites students to study ‘contemporary contour fashion within the arena of lingerie, structured body-wear, swimwear and active-wear’.

Meanwhile ‘bakery and patisserie technology’ is an option at University College Birmingham for those who have CCC.

A Cleveland spokesman said its body contour course teaches ‘practical skills of pattern cutting, CAD (computer aided design) and 3D prototyping in fabrics’.

Rob Warner, vice chancellor at Plymouth Marjon, said: ‘Outdoor adventure is a long-standing degree programme which rigorously combines practice and theory.’

A University College Birmingham spokesman said its bakery course had a number of successful alumni.