Time to liven up our marketing of degree courses?

This week's Times Higher Education (June 16th) really hit the nail on the head when it commented on the lamentably dull way in which most universities present their main 'products', namely their degree programmes.

Who would rush to sign up for this, for instance?

"Study at the University of X and you'll receive lectures, seminars, formative and summative assessment, all culminating in some learning outcomes and, hopefully, a degree."

But who could resist this far more appealing offering?

"...an inspired and rewarding life, nestling on a bed of ancient learning sourced from free-range minds, temptingly accompanied by a compote of premium knowledge and rich insight, to-die-for handmade tuition and heady intellectual infusions."

For the full article, follow this link.

(Quotes drawn from the article without permission, and I'll remove them if anyone objects).

So, it's clearly time for us all to re-think how we write our various course brochures, handbooks, web-pages, etc. Universities are really exciting places to work and study, and we really do need to get that idea over far more forcefully and effectively than we do.