Financially unstable universities continue to cut humanity courses

A reduction in student choice and academic freedom is becoming increasingly apparent as universities – including Russell Group institutions – continue to remove humanities courses, amid severe funding pressures.

According to The Guardian, large areas of the UK are now experiencing subject cold spots, with disciplines such as classics, languages, and theology among the most affected. These gaps have emerged as teaching posts across these fields are cut, prompting the British Academy to warn of a growing erosion of humanity and social science courses.

These cuts, being an ongoing issue for years, have intensified to the point where even traditionally secure subjects are being targeted. Courses in English and business — historically stable and widely enrolled — are now being withdrawn.

Experts note that jobs in business and management have fallen by 5% in a single year, revealing a greater contraction across academics.

The result is greater inequalities, fewer opportunities for students, and the gradual erosion of the world-leading research our economy, democracy and global standing rely on

Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy

This reduction in course availability significantly limits students’ educational pathways: fewer options, fewer opportunities to specialise, and, as the British Academy argues, a growing “crisis of social mobility”.

Students who rely on humanities and social science degrees to enter key professional sectors are increasingly unable to access the skills and opportunities these subjects provide, and so their careers stop before they’ve even started.

Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy, warned that “the result is greater inequalities, fewer opportunities for students, and the gradual erosion of the world-leading research our economy, democracy and global standing rely on”.

We are now rapidly heading towards a situation where academic institutions as we’ve known them for centuries will no longer exist

Joe Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union

Job losses are now reaching even the most prestigious institutions. Russell Group universities including Edinburgh, Exeter, Nottingham, and Glasgow have all reported significant reductions in humanities staffing and course availability.

The situation has become so severe that Joe Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union, stated: “we are now rapidly heading towards a situation where academic institutions as we’ve known them for centuries will no longer exist.”

In response to concerns about declining access to humanities education, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “through our ambitious reforms announced in the post-16 education and skills white paper, we will restore universities as engines of growth, aspiration and opportunity.”

Financial pressures are expected to continue shaping the higher education landscape. At the centre of this crisis, students hoping to pursue humanities and social science degrees increasingly bear the consequences of a sector under immense strain.