Media Studies and other trendy 'Mickey Mouse' degrees 'leave students disatisfied'

The Government-funded poll of 177,000 students gave the highest ratings to traditional disciplines such as history and classics.

Undergraduates were least likely to be satisfied with the quality of their courses if they studied degrees derided in some quarters as "Mickey Mouse".

The least contented students were taking courses such as cinematics, photography, imaginative writing, complementary medicine and media studies.

Just 74 per cent of undergraduates doing these degrees said they were satisfied.

Other courses with below-average ratings included publicity studies and tourism, transport and travel.

In contrast, satisfaction ratings for physics and chemistry were 90 per cent, for history 91 per cent, English 87 per cent and classics 93 per cent.

The findings came in a survey of final-year students who were asked to rate their courses for quality of teaching, feedback, academic support, resource and organisation.

The university with the most satisfied students emerged as the Open University, where 95 per cent declared themselves happy with their courses.

It was closely followed by Prince William's alma mater, St Andrews, on 94 per cent, Buckingham on 93 per cent and Oxford on 92 per cent.

Cambridge students did not fill in enough questionnaires to take part.

Other institutions, including some former polytechnics and specialist art or music colleges, fared less well with scores as low as 53 per cent.

The figures showed that overall, nearly one in five students - 19 per cent - did not believe their courses were up to scratch.

The same proportion did not consider their courses to be "intellectually stimulating".

A higher proportion - nearly four in ten - were unhappy with the way their work was marked and the feedback they received.

University chiefs suggested this was because they had grown used to re-sitting exams they fail at school.

Leeds University vice-chancellor Michael Arthur, chair of the National Student Survey steering group, said: "Even when you do get essays back in a very timely fashion and with detailed comments - at least detailed in the eyes of those providing them - students still don't necessarily regard that as good feedback.

"A theory is that there is really quite a significant difference between the type of assessment and feedback that occurs earlier in life through your secondary education and that that occurs at university.

"There are multiple opportunities to resit assessments to improve your score and universities don't usually work in that way."

Shadow universities secretary David Willetts said: "This is further evidence that the quality of the student experience is under threat.

"Parents and students need to be confident that their top-up fees are paying for greater teaching commitment."