Kent looks to close courses in nine areas, with 58 jobs ‘at risk’

The University of Kent has outlined proposals that would see it “phase out” courses in modern languages, philosophy and other areas in favour of growing provision in subjects such as law, business and computing.

Up to 58 academic posts could be at risk of redundancy due to the changes, according to the University and College Union (UCU), the latest in a series of cutbacks at the under-pressure institution in recent years.

A Kent spokesman said it was “responding to a number of financial challenges including the fixed tuition fee, rising costs and changes in student behaviour”.

This had prompted the university to explore “changes to our size and shape to ensure we are well placed to grow in priority areas in the future”, he added.

Changes that have been put to staff for consultation included “phasing out future recruitment in some areas where we no longer feel we can be competitive due to national student number projections”, the spokesman said.

Courses at risk are anthropology, journalism, health and social care, religious studies, philosophy, music, art history, English language and linguistics, comparative literature and modern languages.

At the same time, the university said, it was planning to grow provision in biosciences, business, computing, law and psychology.

The University Council for Languages said it was “deeply concerned” by the potential loss of language provision, which it said would leave south-east England as a “cold spot”.

A “consolidated and employability-oriented” bachelor’s degree in modern languages was only launched at Kent in 2022, UCFL said, and it was “showing an increasing trend in applications and students enrolled”.

The body appealed to Kent to “build on the extensive work that has already been carried out” and to ensure “local applicants from deprived backgrounds have access to core humanities and social science subjects at their doorstep”.

Kent last reviewed its humanities provision over the summer of 2023, initially putting 52 academics at risk but later agreeing not to make compulsory redundancies.

The university also paused pay rises due to staff last year as part of the national collective bargaining process.

It is yet to publish its accounts for 2022-23, but last year’s showed a deficit of £65.4 million, although £50 million of this was put down to a large increase in pension provision.

The Kent spokesman said it would be working closely with staff and trade union representatives “in the weeks ahead before any final decisions are taken”.

“Our focus in this will be supporting staff being consulted with on the plans, including working to our redundancy avoidance agreement to ensure we prioritise voluntary redundancy, vacancy review and reduced hours as far as possible.

“None of the proposed plans being discussed would impact current students’ ability to graduate or complete their courses and, as with any proposed organisational changes, we will do everything we can to minimise the impact on their studies,” he added.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com