I’m paying £17,000 a year for a part-time ‘mickey mouse degree’ in influencing – people say it’s just taking pictures but I’m already making my money back

A student paying £17,000 a year to study a degree in content creation in Britain has revealed she is already making her money back after launching a business alongside her studies.

Enterprising Ria Reddy, 20, who lives in Nottingham, grew up in India where her main career options were in medicine, business and engineering, but she always knew she wanted to ‘buck the trend’ by doing ‘something creative’ doing.

Ria attended the elite boarding school The Lawrence School in Lovedale, South India, where she graduated with the equivalent of five A-levels. She then decided to come to Britain in 2022 to study fashion marketing and branding at Nottingham Trent University.

The student later moved on to a three-year BA (Hons) in content creation – also known as an ‘influencer’s degree’ – at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, where he learned modules of building social media brands and growing an online community to create digital content stands out from the crowd.

In 2023, her second year of college, Ria started her own content creation company, The Network Theory (Thenetworktheory.com), working with companies on their branding and social media content.

Her highest paying project saw her earn £1,500 for a month-long project, and TNT already earns enough money to cover half of her £17,000 tuition fees. Ria expects that her company will generate enough turnover next year to pay for her course.

It comes as recent figures from The Higher Education Statistics Agency show that the number of university students starting their own businesses has increased to almost 5,000 in Britain in the past year.

Ria said: ‘People who say content creation is a ‘Mickey Mouse degree’ or is just about taking photos and posting them on Instagram don’t see or really understand 99 percent of the work we do on the course . completely what the course is about.

‘At first, when I wanted to come to Britain to study, I was worried because an international tuition fee of £17,000 is a lot of money. Together with accommodation and fees, it costs around £35,000 per year to study in Britain. Paying all that just to ‘learn how to post photos’ wouldn’t make sense – financially and for my future.

‘But content creation is so much more than that. By studying this course at Confetti, I not only got to know my field, but I am now also working on it. How many other students from more traditional courses can say that in their second year? And I expect that will only grow in my third year.’

Ria grew up in Coimbatore, India, and studied at a boarding school called The Lawrence School, including social sciences, economics, geography, politics, English arts and psychology.

One of her teachers had studied at Nottingham Trent University, so when Ria decided whether to continue her studies in the US or Britain, she wanted to follow in her footsteps.

After studying fashion marketing and branding for a year, Ria switched to the Confetti content creation course in 2022 – after discussing with her parents whether this was the best step for her.

Owned by Nottingham Trent University, Confetti provides vocational further and higher education in the creative and entertainment industries. It is unique in the UK, with almost no classrooms or lecture halls, yet offers students hands-on experience in all their businesses during their studies – from a live entertainment venue to a fully established TV channel and a state-of-the-art arts Esports centre.

Ria said: ‘I had a very, very long conversation with my parents that lasted a few months. We spent a lot of time going through the modules and reading how it all fits together, and found that it is very well written and has a great ethos of ‘doing it for real’ with opportunities to work in the industry in which you study.

‘The course covers every part of the industry, not just teaching or editing or photographing or creating content for other people’s social media, but also the business aspects of the industry and how to negotiate, how to find work and make space and that’s why I was inclined to take that course.

‘We also looked at the fact that there is so much money in the content creation industry, and in the end they were happy for me to change my course – and so did I.’

In her first year of the course, Ria had worked with 18 brands – on a paid basis or as work experience. In her second year she was able to start her own company to further collaborate with these companies.

Since launching TNT, Ria has continued to work with brands she met through introductions to Confetti, including a Singapore-based company that paid her £1,500 for her content creation services. With her three-day-a-week course, Ria says she is free to work with brands on the side.

Ria says: ‘The Confetti course assignments are our work with brands. That gives us so much practical work in the industry itself. The modules themselves are so well written that you end up at every door and all you have to do is work hard to get through.

‘Confetti organizes fantastic networking and industry events, where company representatives come to meet the students. So while we were learning about content creation, I was also offered work with companies, from filming and editing videos to creating their social media posts. It was a real opener.

‘At an industry networking event organized by my Confetti course, I met a woman who wanted me to represent her company – an education agency in Hong Kong that helps international students with university applications.

“I decided to start my company called The Network Theory – or TNT for short – and associate it with them and now I am helping to market them in India.

‘That’s how it came about. But I’ve always wanted to start a business, and this was the push I needed to launch it properly.

‘TNT is working to develop comprehensive strategies and conduct in-depth data analyses. We understand that a strong online presence is more than just visibility: it’s about resonating with audiences, driving engagement and driving results.

‘It doesn’t pay for my university education. But I think half of it will be paid for by the end of this year.”

Ria is now focused on building a strong portfolio of her work and meeting industry insiders to expand her business. This year, she hopes to work remotely and hire employees so she can grow.

And most of all, she says her parents are happy with her decision.

She said: ‘They are very happy! Especially as Indian parents who send your child all the way to another country, you want to be sure that they do something with their lives.

“There’s nothing worse for an international student than spending so much money on a course only to graduate and say, ‘What do I do now?’

“But this course has essentially given me all the fundamental tools I need to really make a name for myself in the industry.”