Perhaps it would help if people actually looked at Newcastle University's website before pronouncing on this course. It might then avoid some of the misinformation that has been posted.

The information many seek can be found at www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/undergrad/degrees/w340.htm
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For example the entry requirements are stated as 3 grade B's at A-level including music.

There is a link to the course modules on the page, though there seems to be a bug at the moment. The other links are working though.

I go to the Sage to their Caedmon folk classes and to other Folkworks workshops on a regular basis and have met (and know) a number of both recent graduates and current students from the course and the descriptions above do not fit any of those I know. Yes they are talented, but mostly they wear it lightly and don't look down on others or display "artistic temperament". In fact they are a refreshingly normal bunch of people who just happen to love folk music.

Newcastle are careful to claim the course is the first in England but I actually think they were ahead of the rest of the UK.

Not long after it started, I did a check through the UCAS website on other courses involving folk and traditional music and there was nothing in the UK quite like the Newcastle course. A couple of Scottish Universities offered traditional music as an option on a standard BMus, but usually later on in the course. Things have changed since then, I believe.