Tory minister promises to crack down on ‘Harry Potter degrees’ but … there aren’t any

A Tory minister has said the government will crack down on “Harry Potter degrees” – but there aren’t any at UK unis.

Speaking at an event at the Conservative Party conference yesterday, skills and higher education minister Andrea Jenkyns claimed young people would rather “get a degree in Harry Potter studies” than an apprenticeship in construction.

Way back in 2010, Durham University offered a 10-week module entitled Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion as part of a BA in Education Studies, which was said to study “the Harry Potter novels in their wider social and cultural context”. At present, there is no “Harry Potter studies” degree at a UK university, and people aren’t sure what she meant.

At the event Jenkyns also claimed some universities are giving students “a diet of critical race theory, anti-British history and sociological Marxism”, and said the government wants to offer an alternative.

She said: “A skilled modern economy competing on the global stage requires technical skills just as much as it needs graduates. Yet the current system would rather our young people get a degree in Harry Potter studies than the apprentices shaping construction.

“It doesn’t take magic powers to work out that this is wrong, which is why the government is committed to putting the broomstick to good use and carrying out a spring clean of low-quality courses.”

Jenkyns said it makes “no sense” for the government to fund a course if it “isn’t providing someone with a positive outcome”.

She said: “I’m determined to make sure that the skills we give our young people are fit for the future, in some cases they simply aren’t getting this at universities. They’re being fed a diet of critical race theory, anti-British history and sociological Marxism, which is why this government is determined to provide an alternative.”

In case you’d forgotten, Andrea Jenkyns is the Tory MP who flicked her middle finger up at people outside No.10 Downing Street this summer. Following the incident, she said “I am only human” and called the people outside Downing Street a “baying mob”.

“I responded and stood up for myself”, she said. “Just why should anyone have to put up with this sort of treatment. I should have shown more composure but I am only human.”

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