For many of us the idea of an English Folk Degree is not of any immediate relevance or practicality, but there is always so much to learn outside, and irrespective of, academia. As a resolutely non-academic for whom the appeal of Folk Music has always been its essential non-academic empiricism, I might despair over any sort of folk music degree course at all simply because it has no immediate relevance to me personally, nor indeed to my innumerable fellow folkies whose passion & commitment to this music has kept it going on a grass-roots level since year zero. I'm hearing good things though, and would hope young singers are coming up irrespective of what they might be doing at university, or indeed, if university is an option at all.