History departments face ‘unprecedented turbulence’ in UK sector

Humanities courses are in danger across the UK, with history facing “unprecedented turbulence” and falling student numbers doing “collateral damage” to English, it has been warned.

The Royal Historical Society has warned that the study of history is in a “state of unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty” in UK higher education.

In a statement, the organisation said the most conspicuous signs of turmoil were department cuts, staff dismissals and the closing of degrees – situations that had become “all too familiar”.

And where compulsory redundancies had been avoided, historians had faced “continuous cycles of voluntary severance, with staff leaving either because the prospect of remaining in post is intolerable, or to save the employment of younger colleagues”, it said.

The Royal Historical Society warned that these problems were the result of political decisions, with students being negatively affected through overcrowding in highly recruited departments or loss of provision at others.

Meanwhile, the Royal Historical Society said, academics were forced to put up with the “exhausting” uncertainty of unpredictable changes in student numbers, which impeded their long-term thinking.

“History as a subject and pursuit remains in good health,” said the statement. “But what does appear to be in crisis – now as never before – are the structures that enable and sustain history in UK higher education. The implications of this are real and serious, and they require attention.”

Meanwhile, a new report by the British Academy says the number of UK first-degree undergraduates across English studies fell by 23 per cent between 2012 and 2021.

This rate varied significantly across the devolved nations, with uptake increasing by 12 per cent in Scotland over this period but falling by 29 per cent in England.

The report says that policy changes – when English literature was removed as a required GCSE in England and coursework was replaced by closed-book examinations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – might have contributed to a “particularly steep decline” since 2015.

“Many of our interviewees identified the 2015 GCSE reforms in England, Northern Ireland and Wales as a key root cause of declining numbers of students studying English language and literature at A level, which is subsequently impacting enrolments to English studies courses in higher education,” it says.

Experts interviewed for the report said they were concerned that the requirement in English schools to teach a 19th-century English novel had led to an “overemphasis on two relatively short texts” – A Christmas Carol and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Authors also highlight the “highly uneven patterns” of student numbers across different institutions – often characterised by university entry requirements – which can put pressure on individual institutions to restructure departments or close courses.

With the majority of funding coming from teaching income, falling student numbers does “collateral damage to the funding available to support excellent research”, they add.

The study, produced by British Academy, says that research in the area remains world-leading.

And it says that postgraduate enrolment in English studies – which includes English literature, English language and creative writing – is increasing.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com