Printed hands and salad days

A few weeks ago, I raided the University archives and sneered at the design of prospectuses from our former institutions from the 1940s through until the 1980s. Before handing these back, I decided, once again, to discard the hep, groovy ‘now’ and look back to that even tattier time before space travel and bagged salad.

These days, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects are back in vogue, as befitting the world's preoccupation with bytes, bits and a grim determination to find ever more inventive and/or effective ways of wiping ourselves out. Epidemics, medical cures, performance enhancers, global warming, jet packs, superheroes, self driving cars and the internet don’t invent themselves.

Universities are an essential component of this global technological push. At Bedfordshire, our recent contributions have been impressive, with undergraduate courses in Computing, Biological Science and Health and Social Sciences among those underpinning our world-leading research was is helping to change lives. This week, for example, we've been bowled over with the inspriational work carried out by our Computing department in building a hand for 8 year old William Joyner.

But back to the salad. In the 1940s, bagging the stuff was a distant dream, although food technology was eagerly pursued. Luton Technical College's offer was dominated with Chemistry, Commercial and Engineering courses, though there was a two year City and Guilds in Breadmaking and Flour Confectionery on a Wednesday or “Domestic Science and Women’s Classes", including Cookery, Dressmaking and Make-do & Mend. 1945's course offer looks as tired as the country must have been coming out of war, though the £3 fees don’t look too onerous for Bedfordshire residents (hilariously, this increases to £5 for Hertfordshire residents; £6 for those from elsewhere). 

Crazy, crazy Mrs Sew-and-Sew

In 1952, students were treated to the excellent news that the canteen served dinner between 12.50 and 1.30pm and that the College now held classes in Art and Building. Women’s courses still included Cooking and Dressmaking, although Make-do and Mend had been replaced by Millinery, Needlecraft and Tailoring.

In the 1960s, the wise decision was taken to instruct pupils not to carry bottles of ink around the campus unless they (the bottles) were transported in polythene bags. Women’s courses seemed to have disappeared, what with liberation and all, although the College's Department for Food and Clothing had courses for Brides, Hostesses and Housewives. Heston's food scientists may have sniffed at the cookery courses, but reipes included ”Rice, Risottos-Pilaffs Pasta Dishes’, ”Sauces in High-Class Cookery” and “The Use of Herbs”. Far out, man.

Two decades on, Luton’s College of Higher Education was moving forward apace. Prospective students in 1979 were promised a 36 user Computer Centre using Basic Plus, Def Leppard, Fortran, Cobol, Terry Jacks and Macro11. Business and Management courses had crept in, mainly because, by that time, the art of cookery had largely been replaced by PotNoodles; the manufacture of which needed a steadying management hand and some smart marketing rather than nutrionists.


Notes
Principles from Make-do & Mend are still applied in University Professional Services departments.
Bagged salad first appeared on UK supermarket shelves in 1986. 
Def Leppard was and might still be a band, not a computer language. Terry Jacks isn't a computer language either.

What's in a name? Weird and wonderful course titles

Not so long ago, it seemed quite the thing to criticise and even ridicule certain universities for offering so-called “Mickey Mouse” degrees. These courses came from a variety of disciplines and bore little resemblance to those which were doubtless considered more ‘academic’. Classics, Latin, or Archaeology always managed to miss the cut, which must have come as a huge relief for institutions with Medieval lawns and huge resources. But still, the notion of studying the media or sport seemed one small step from chaos, anarchy and the very end of time.

Golf hats

Don't get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with studying Classics, Latin or Archaeology. These are important subjects, although detailed knowledge of Ovid, pots, old ruins or sieges aren't the most obvious tools for dealing with business, psychology or a life in PR. And they wouldn’t help too much in, say managing a golf club. At this point, I should mention that all I know about golf is that involves weird clothing, sticks, balls and holes. So, if I’m not up to the job, who should we turn to? Perhaps someone with a golf management degree?

Football Studies?
John Still, master tactician

In a not-entirely unrelated sphere, Football Studies is also a minority interest subject. Or is it? Football Studies doesn’t involve people pretending to be pundits and trotting out lame cliché after lame cliché. Like it or not, and for better or worse, football is big business these days. Or, more accurately, football is a huge, corporatised juggernaut, the study of which might involve looking at sports, nutrition, development, business, media, finance, hospitality, sociology, psychology …. The list goes on. Football Studies course managers

may also be looking to add Criminology elements to their offer, given the recent shock revelations and investigations around the less-than-squeaky clean operations of the international game.

A few years ago, The Telegraph compiled a top ten “unusual degrees” list, which ranged from institutions such as South Bank and Liverpool Hope, to Plumpton College and UCL. The subjects tellingly included degrees with a very specific vocational and almost artisanal flavour (Baking Technology Management or

Brewing and Distilling) to those with clear roots in anthropology (Viking Studies) or those looking at a specific cultural phenomenon with a view to a wider academic discipline (The Beatles, Popular Music and Society).

Klingon??!!

Still, if these, or Surf Science don’t float your boat – and yes that is surf as in the waves not the web - our friends over the Pond have, not too surprisingly, an even more diverse range of courses for consideration. Last year, QS put a list together of degrees which would make most people’s eyes and mouths start watering – it would seem there really are opportunities to study Harry Potter, Klingon, the tv show Lost, zombies, the joy of garbage, the history of the pig in America and – perhaps most alluring – the science of superheroes.