Fines to crack down on ‘Mickey Mouse’ university degrees
Penalties of up to £500,000 for courses failing to deliver jobs
UNIVERSITIES are facing fines if they cannot get 60 per cent of students into a professional job under a crackdown on ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses.
Plans could see institutions fined up to £500,000, stripped of their right to take student loans or effectively shut down.
The Office for Students (OfS) wants to eliminate ‘low-quality’ courses by setting a new threshold requiring courses to send at least 60 per cent of students to further study or professional employment.
On top of that, at least 80 per cent of students should not drop out after the first year, and 75 per cent should graduate. The rules, published today, also introduce a ‘requires improvement’ rating in the TEF, the official universities ratings system.
Universities with this rating will not be able to charge full annual fees of £9,250. The rules are hoped to
‘There simply is no excuse’
tackle ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees with low postgraduate success rates.
Unconventional courses that could fall victim to the new rules could include the University of Sunderland’s BA in Fashion Journalism, where students learn ‘essential’ skills such as catwalk reporting and the history of Chanel. They have only a 40 per cent chance of entering highly skilled work 15 months after leaving.
At University College Birmingham, BSC Bakery and Patisserie Technology students – who learn how to ‘make artisan bread’ – have a 15 per cent chance of rising to the challenge of a professional job within 15 months.
Universities minister Michelle Donelan welcomed a ‘crackdown’, adding: ‘When students go to university, they do so in the pursuit of a life-changing education, one which helps pave their path towards a highly skilled career.
‘Any university that fails to match this ambition must be held to account.’
OfS found that at 25 universities, fewer than half of students find professional work within 15 months. These included Birkbeck in London (31.6 per cent), the University of Bedfordshire (33.5 per cent) and London Metropolitan (39.8 per cent).
Business and management courses at the University of
Bedfordshire (14.8 per cent) were among the least likely to lead to graduate-level jobs. Miss Donelan cited eight computing courses with 40 per cent drop-out rates, saying: ‘there simply is no excuse for this’. She added: ‘Our university system is acclaimed as world class but there are too many pockets of poor quality.
‘Through this tough regulatory action we are protecting students from being let down by these institutions.’
The OfS said it wanted to stop students receiving a ‘performance that is below our minimum expectations’, given that they ‘are likely to be paying substantial sums’.
Nicola Dandridge, of the OfS, said the rules were likely to ‘generate significant debate’ and that the OfS would consider a consultation.
The University of Sunderland said it always looked ‘to find ways to improve outcomes’. University College Birmingham said data on graduates and definition of ‘professional work’ was limited.