London - A university in the Beatles' home city of Liverpool said Tuesday it would become the first academic institution in the world to offer a Masters Degree (MA) on the life and legacy of the Fab Four. Liverpool Hope University, which has 7,000 students, said the new course, entitled The Beatles, popular music and society, would start in September and could be studied both full-and part-time.
The course would cover four modules with specific issues relating to The Beatles and popular music, consisting of four 12-week taught modules, plus a dissertation, the university said.
Modules include studying the studio sound and compositions of The Beatles and looking at Liverpool from the 1930s and how events helped to shape their music emerging in the city.
"Forty years on from their break-up, now is the right time and Liverpool is the right place to study The Beatles," said Mike Brocken, senior lecturer in popular music at Hope University.
"This MA is expected to attract a great deal of attention, not just locally but nationally and we have already had enquiries from abroad, particularly the United States," he added.
Despite there being more than 8,000 books about The Beatles there had never been serious academic study and that was now going to change, said Brocken.
"The Beatles influenced so much of society, not just with their music, but also with fashion from their collar-less jackets to their psychedelic clothes," he explained.
He said there were unlikely to be more than 30 places on the MA course.
Asked how a postgraduate course could help people gain employment, Brocken said: "I think any MA equips people with extra study and research skills...You will find that once you have done a masters degree it separates you from the pack."
