The Beatles: University of Liverpool offers master's degree in Fab Four

We can work it out: Students will explore the band's legacy on the MA course in The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage

Fans of The Beatles are being invited to study for a master's degree in the Fab Four at the University of Liverpool.

Students on The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage MA course will learn about the group's influence on popular music and culture, its programme leader said.

Dr Holly Tessler said it was "unique" because it explored the band's legacy.

There is also a focus on heritage and tourism in Liverpool and the UK, she said.

'Unique culture'

The course - which starts in September - is aimed at people "currently working, or considering pursuing a career in, the music and creative industries", said a university spokesman.

According to the course description, students will be able to visit sites in Merseyside which featured in the group's early years.

Dr Tessler, a Beatles expert, said she was "absolutely delighted" to bring formal study of the Beatles to the University of Liverpool's Department of Music and Institute of Popular Music.

"What makes this MA unique is its focus on The Beatles in a future-facing way, considering the legacy's influence on the music and creative industries, in popular culture, and within heritage, culture and tourism in the 21st Century," she said.

The MA will examine the "deep, significant and lasting relationship" between the band and the city.

She added: "This MA is as much about the wider study of Liverpool's - and Britain's - heritage, tourism and culture sectors as it is about the role The Beatles played in them."

Dr Mike Jones, a member of the Beatles Legacy Group, which seeks to establish the economic value of Beatles tourism to Liverpool's economy, said the MA would explore the "deep, significant and lasting relationship" between the band and the city.

He added: "Liverpool should be regarded not just as the birthplace of The Beatles, but their cradle.

"What The Beatles took to the world was, in part, Liverpool's unique culture."

Students of the postgraduate qualification will also consider how the band's influence could be replicated in different places, industries and contexts around the world, the university said.

It's not the first time a Beatles MA has been offered in the city.

A woman from Canada became the first person in the world to graduate with a master's degree in The Beatles, Popular Music and Society at Liverpool Hope University in 2011.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]