SURF'S UP FOR STUDENTS

Doing their homework?

A teaching union has called for 'Mickey Mouse' degrees to be scrapped after a Swansea college started a BA course in surfing.

Peter Morris of the Professional Association of Teachers said a Government drive to get young people into higher education was encouraging the creation of such degrees.


He told the PAT annual conference in Bournemouth that hobbies were not worthy of being turned into subjects for serious study.

Swansea Institute of Higher Education's new degree in Surf and Beach Management is being introduced this year.

As well as requiring students to develop their surfing skills, the course also includes modules on "surf entrepreneurship" and "surf destination planning".

Applicants need at least two D-grades at A-Level in order to get a place.

"I ask you, what good is a degree in surfing?" Mr Morris said.

"I would readily support a safety qualification for surfers but a degree? And all this at a time when our nation is short of plumbers and electricians."

The Swansea college defended the course, saying it will help the UK claim a slice of the £2.8bn worldwide surf industry.

Professor Ken Reid, of the Institute, said: "At the moment the only economies that benefit are Australia, Hawaii and California.

"What we are providing is the opportunity to start developing our own local industries."