Are quotes needed when naming an educational course?

Solution 1:

It depends on the discipline: if the discipline were 'mathematics', say, you do not need such quotes because everyone knows that mathematics is a discipline, but if it is some very specific, unfamiliar, and potentially confusingly named discipline then the use of quotes is a way of warning the reader that the words are being used in a special sense.

So, if you wrote "An analysis of making friends and influencing people has been concluded" the reader might not understand that you were referring to an academic discipline with that name. (I am not claiming that such a discipline exists, but all sorts of oddly named disciplines do exist).

But in the specific example quoted, the introductory words "...the educational discipline...' warn the reader that what follows might not be the same as the natural meaning of the words. So quotes are not necessary for removing possible ambiguity or misunderstanding.

But there are style guide issues here too. For all I know, in some institutions it may the custom always to denote academic disciplines by using quotes, or, equally, never to do so.

If there is a relevant style guide follow it, otherwise write in ways that minimise the scope for confusion or misunderstanding on the part of the reader.