If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a TikTok star, look no further – you can now study for a degree in “influencing.”
The Bachelor of Arts in Content Creation and Social Media will be offered from this September at South Eastern Technology University (SETU) in Carlow, the first of its kind in Ireland.
It has already received 251 applications for around 50 places, with applicants coming from as far away as South Africa and Vietnam, according to The Sunday Times.
The four-year degree will include modules such as creative video, celebrity studies, data analytics, podcasting, event management and psychology, and an internship in the third year.
And students could even meet TikTok royalty, with stars such as Lauren Whelan, who has 1.7 million followers on the platform and studied at SETU, being invited to work with students.
Ireland’s first university degree in influence has attracted applications from around the world. Pictured: TikTok star Lauren Whelan, who attended the university and could appear as a guest on the course
Kayleigh Trappe, who runs a comedy account and is known for her impersonations, has also been positive about the course, according to her teachers.
Lauren recently launched her own podcast, Under The Influencer, which will explore current trends in the industry.
Irene McCormick, a senior lecturer at the university, told The Times she hopes the degree will help change inequality in the industry.
White influencers currently earn 50 percent more than some of their BAME counterparts, according to a report earlier this month from UK-based SevenSix Agency.
She said: ‘The influencer industry is a very white space at the moment, and we have a lot to figure out and there’s a lot of research that needs to be done on this within the course.
‘We already have a lot of black Irish students at SETU and more than at other universities, which is fantastic.’
He added: “It’s interesting to keep defending it because people of a certain age are still quite bewildered about what a race is and it’s a race with legs.”
Dr Eleanor O’Leary, a lecturer in media and communications at the university, told Irish broadcaster RTE: “It’s an area that requires a specific set of skills.
Professor Irene McCormick said she met with influencer Kayleigh Trappe, who was very positive about the course.
The BA in Content Creation and Social Media will be offered from this September at South East Technology University (SETU) in Carlow (file image)
TikTok star Lauren Whelan has 1.7 million followers on the platform and has launched a new podcast to explore industry trends.
“It builds on existing knowledge in media, PR and marketing, but it is also a new area in itself.”
More than a quarter of the applicants so far are from abroad, while the recruitment process is still ongoing.
Part of the course description says: ‘Do your family and friends complain that you’re constantly on your phone?
‘Now you have the chance to use all that screen time to prove that you can have a successful and exciting career using your digital devices to connect with millions of people around the world.’
The influencer sector has doubled in value globally since 2019 and is now worth between £12bn and £14bn worldwide, according to O’Leary.
Ria Reddy, who is also studying for a degree in influencing, previously responded to people who said it was “just about taking pictures”.
Ria, who pays £17,000 a year for her content creation course at The Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, says she has already made her money back.
The course includes modules ranging from building a brand on social media and how to grow an online community to how to make digital content stand out from the crowd.
Ria Reddy, who is also studying for a ‘degree in influencing’, earlier responded to people who said it was ‘just about taking pictures’.
Ria said: ‘People who say content creation is a ‘Mickey Mouse degree’ or that it’s just about taking pictures and posting them on Instagram don’t see 99 per cent of the work we do in the course and don’t really fully understand what the course is about.
‘When I first wanted to come to study in the UK, I was worried because a tuition fee of £17,000 for international students is a lot of money. If you add accommodation and fees, studying in the UK costs around £35,000 a year.
“Paying all that money just to ‘learn how to post photos’ wouldn’t make sense, financially or for my future.
“But content creation is so much more than that. By studying this degree at Confetti, I’ve not only learned about my field, but I’m now working in it. How many other students in more traditional degrees can say that in their second year? And I hope that continues to grow in my third year.”
Ria started her own content creation business, The Network Theory (Thenetworktheory.com) in her second year of study, using the skills she had learned in her undergraduate degree.
(tags to translate)dailymail
