Throughout universities in the United Kingdom, students of all levels are seeking degrees that meet their personal desires and professional needs. While many choose more traditional paths of study to guarantee themselves work after school, other students take the road less traveled to find their jobs. Recent reports have shown the increased enrollment in degree programs in areas like golf course management, turf science, computer game design, and popular cultural history. These fields require a greater imagination and a lot of hard work for graduates after university, with many graduates settling for sales or banking jobs while they find their dream job.

However, these degree programs are becoming increasingly important to the health of the UK economy. A study by UK Universities, which represents the interests of universities throughout the United Kingdom, recently found that businesses and universities are working together to form non-traditional degrees to meet new needs. The reasoning behind this collaboration is that new skill sets, which include an ability to see the cutting edge and skill with computers, require more flexible degrees than traditional programs like accounting and financing. After all, graduates who have course work in determining how to design a golf course or learning the history of popular music in the United Kingdom possess creative minds and an ability to think outside of the box.

For England to maintain its role as the fifth largest economy in the world, graduates entering the workforce over the next decade will need to bring wider skill sets and experiences to the workplace. Those who have studied film, computer game design, and the science of surfing will be able to develop new business solutions that will help companies meet new challenges in the 21st century. In the end, hiring managers and executives are realizing that the course work a graduate takes is more important than the degree title that they hold.

An example of the industries in need of fresh, creative minds are the fashion and media industries. Employing four million people every year and bringing in 90 billion pounds per year, companies who are involved in fashion, design, television, and movies are beginning to experience massive growth. With this growth comes an increased demand for graduates who are unconventional thinkers. The rapid increase of competition within these fields means that companies need graduates in a wide variety of fields to gain an edge over other firms in the same field.