King Charles just said the government is cracking down on ‘poor quality’ university degrees

In a ceremony so filled with pomp and ceremony it was honestly hard to follow, King Charles just opened the new Parliament session and set an agenda of what the Tories will allegedly achieve in more or less the next 12 months.

There was a lot on the to do list: Bring down inflation, train more doctors, expand mental health services, create a “smoke free generation”, sort the housing market, protect football stadiums, tackle anti-semitism, reduce crime, and – also – introduce “proposals to reduce poor quality university degrees and increase high quality apprenticeships.” Oh.

Tbh, this is something we’ve heard before. Claims of so-called “Mickey Mouse” uni degrees losing their funding have been made for a good two years. But it doesn’t make it any less worrying about what is and isn’t going to be scrapped.

This July, the government introduced a new policy where an independent regulator was established to determine which university courses offer “value for money”. Rishi Sunak said the Office for Students plans to check multiple different outcomes from courses to weed out the “low quality” ones. And now Charles just made it a priority.

As per usual, though, the government hasn’t actually named any specific institutions or subjects which could be at risk. Apparently, they’re not going to attack the arts and humanities. But, a previous report from 2019 did specify courses should be “better aligned with the economy’s needs.” Hmmmm.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• ‘Mickey Mouse’ uni degrees could be scrapped or lose their funding

• A graduate is suing her university for £60,000 for giving her a ‘mickey mouse degree’

• These are the degree subjects which have the highest drop-out rates

Featured image credit via House of Lords