Editing Mickey Mouse degrees (section)

==Origins==
The term was used by the [[Minister of State for Universities]] [[Margaret Hodge]], during a discussion on higher education expansion. Hodge defined a Mickey Mouse course as "one where the content is perhaps not as rigorous as one would expect and where the degree itself may not have huge relevance in the labour market"; and that, furthermore, "simply stacking up numbers on Mickey Mouse courses is not acceptable".<ref name="Hodge">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/2655127.stm 'Irresponsible' Hodge under fire]", BBC News, 14 January 2003. URL accessed 24 June 2006.</ref>  Hodge herself received a 3rd class degree in Economics. Similarly, many of her colleagues in the House of Commons have studied Politics Philosophy and Economics and in June 2024 [[Kay Burley]] asked the Education Minister Damian Hinds if his PPE degree from Oxford was not indeed a Mickey Mouse degree.  This opinion is often raised in the summer when exam results are released and new university courses revealed. The phrase took off in the late 1990s,{{cn|date=February 2021}} as the [[Labour Party (United Kingdom)|Labour government]] created the target of having 50% of students in [[higher education]] by 2010.<ref>Donald MacLeod, (14 July 2005) [http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityaccess/story/0,,1527877,00.html "50% higher education target doomed, says thinktank"], EducationGuardian.co.uk, accessed 24 June 2006.</ref>