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Tuesday, September 07, 2004
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TURBULENCE IN THE WELSH NOUVELLE VAGUE
[see UD,7/23/04] SURFING COURSE 'BEST IN UK FOR DOSSERS' Sep 7 2004 Gareth Morgan, The Western Mail A WELSH degree concentrating on surfing has attracted more flak this week after being named one of the easiest in Britain. Swansea Institute of Higher Education introduces its new Surf and Beach Management BA course next month and more than 130 students have tried for places on the course. But popular lads' magazine, FHM, which holds massive influence over the nation's students and 20-something males, has just declared the surfing course the best in the UK for "dossers" who like to dodge hard work. In its latest issue, the magazine offers a Back to Uni Special featuring a list of 10 easy courses to take. The article promises prospective university-goers, "Disconcerted by actual work? Fear not - there are easier ways to spend three years." And Swansea takes the top spot in the list, beating subjects like embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University and football studies at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. In a poke at non-academic courses, FHM imagines students at Swansea will "learn all about surf destination planning along with, presumably, chilling out with a baguette- sized reefer, and picking sand fleas out of your crotch". It makes for grim reading for course organisers, who have already defended the course against accusations made at the Professional Association of Teachers conference in Bournemouth this summer. Conference delegate Peter Morris, an information technology teacher at Swansea's Bishop Gore Comprehensive School, blamed the Government for trying to cram more and more school leavers into university and said the degree was unnecessary. But FHM journalist Matthew Bingham said the magazine was not joining in any political debate about "Mickey Mouse degrees" and the list should not be taken too seriously. "There's no conspiracy theory, it just got the number one spot because it looked a bit interesting, better than embroidery anyway," he said. "I am sure in real life it is probably not as much of a doss as we made out." Despite a recent sales decline of 4.5% to 573,713 copies per month, FHM is still the leader in the men's market. In the latest figures, it was only just pushed off the top slot for all monthly magazines by the success of women's compact-size mag Glamour. "A lot of people will read it and Swansea might even get a few extra students out of that," added Mr Bingham. "They can put down that it's endorsed by FHM in the course description if they want." Course organisers were unavailable for comment last night, but have argued that the course fills a necessary training niche. And a spokesman at Swansea Institute of Higher Education said, "It is more complicated than many people have assumed, because the course is about management skills and is certainly not about lying around on a beach for three years." |