Want to become an influencer? You can now go to university for it.

Several universities in the UK and US are offering degrees focused on content creation, teaching students how to make videos for platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, build audiences, work with brands and turn online attention into income.

But these courses can cost thousands of pounds — raising a question about whether aspiring creators really need a university degree to succeed online.

Destiny McGowan, 21, believes her degree was worth it.

She graduated from Nottingham Trent University in July with a degree in content creation, which costs UK students £9,790 a year.

“I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, so for me the course was about the transferable skills that I believed I would gain,” she says.

McGowan is already earning money from content creation, although she does not disclose how much.

Alongside creating fashion content for her own social media accounts, she produces videos for other people and has worked as a TikTok live-selling host, presenting products to audiences online.

She says the degree also gave her access to equipment, technology and industry contacts.

“The incredible people I’ve met through panels that the university hosted would take someone five to 10 years to get to that place,” she says.

What do you actually learn?

Nottingham Trent launched its content creation degree in 2022 and says it provides students with “hands-on experience”.

The course covers everything from producing social media videos to building audiences and understanding how content performs.

Students are also taught about working with brands and monetising their content.

Other universities have introduced similar programmes.

The University of Brighton offers a content creation degree, while Arizona State University in the US offers a similar qualification aimed at helping students turn creativity into content that connects with audiences.

The costs, however, are substantial.

The three-year degrees at Nottingham Trent and Brighton currently cost £9,790 a year for UK students. At Arizona State University, the standard annual fee is $14,724 (£11,000) for residents of the state.

For a student spending tens of thousands of pounds on a degree, the obvious question is what happens after graduation.

‘You don’t need a three-year degree’

Knightenator, a UK-based full-time content creator, does not think a degree is necessary.

The 31-year-old, who does not reveal her real name, has been creating gaming and travel content since 2015. She now has around 65,000 followers on Twitch and more than 100,000 on TikTok.

Content creation is her full-time job, with brand deals making up most of her income.

“I don’t think I would have taken the course,” she says.

From her experience, she does not believe companies would place much importance on whether a creator has a degree in content creation.

“Honestly, from my experience, I don’t think companies would care too much if you had a content creator degree,” she says.

She also argues that much of what aspiring creators need to know is already available for free online.

“If you have the drive to want to become a content creator, the tips are out there, and you don’t need to commit to a three-year degree,” she says.

Her advice is to watch other creators, understand what works and find a niche.

But some creators see value in it

Aiesha Beasley, a 36-year-old content creator from Phoenix, Arizona, has a different perspective.

Beasley creates food, fashion and lifestyle content and says she would have considered taking a content creation degree if such courses had existed when she started blogging on Tumblr in the early 2010s.

She believes formal education could have given her a clearer path towards turning content creation into a business.

“You really do have to have a business mindset on: how can I transition this from a hobby into something that makes me money?” she says.

She also believes universities are responding to a wider change in the way businesses operate.

“Now you have to have a digital presence,” she says, whether someone is a business owner, entrepreneur or building a personal brand.

A growing industry

The debate comes as the creator economy continues to expand.

YouTube content creators contributed £2.2bn to the UK economy, according to a report cited by the BBC last year.

In the US, a 2024 survey found that one in three people aged 18 to 30 wanted to become an influencer.

That growing market is one reason universities argue that content creation should be treated as a professional skill rather than simply a hobby.

Jacky Gurr, course leader and senior lecturer for content creation at Nottingham Trent University, says most students on the course are not necessarily aiming to become influencers.

Instead, she says, content creation skills can be used across a range of careers — from working for a company or agency to running a business or freelancing for multiple clients.

“Those skills absolutely can be taught,” Gurr says.

Students learn how to plan and produce video content, develop campaigns, understand audiences, analyse performance data and adapt strategies based on that data.

The commercial side of the industry is also part of the course, including monetisation and working with brands.

But even Gurr acknowledges that a degree cannot guarantee success online.

“So much of being a successful influencer is about luck, and we can’t teach luck or personality,” she says.

That may be the biggest complication with an influencer degree.

Universities can teach students how to produce content, understand audiences and approach the business side of social media.

But they cannot teach someone how to go viral, or guarantee that anyone will want to watch.