UK universities cutting thousands of jobs, extinguishing humanities degrees, warns British Academy

Universities across the UK are facing a severe financial emergency, leading to the "extinguishing" of humanities and social science degrees. The British Academy reports that nearly 4,000 academic posts were cut in these fields within a single year, ending December 2024. This includes significant losses in social work, English, classics, anthropology, and linguistics.

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This is not just a crisis for higher education – it is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK.

The crisis is no longer confined to less selective institutions. Traditionally popular and strategically important subjects like business studies, law, and English are also experiencing redundancies, even within prestigious Russell Group universities. The British Academy's chief executive, Hetan Shah, described the situation as a crisis for higher education, social mobility, career prospects, economic skills, and community opportunities.

Regional disparities are widening, with some subjects becoming inaccessible outside of elite universities. For instance, theology is unavailable in many parts of the UK for students with lower predicted grades, and classics is absent from non-Russell Group institutions in certain regions. Language degrees with below-average entry requirements are scarce in several English regions, while staff cuts and course closures in languages are concentrated in the southeast.

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Universities have been forced to scale back subjects across the humanities, social sciences and the arts for years, but the latest data shows the problem is now extending to subjects such as English and business and increasingly affecting Russell Group universities too.

With over 1,000 further job losses proposed at Russell Group universities, the problem is set to worsen. Shah cautioned that universities, which should be central to the government's regional growth plans, are instead suffering a major financial emergency, leading to increased inequalities, fewer student opportunities, and the erosion of world-leading research vital for the economy and democracy.

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Universities will be central to achieving the regional growth aspirations of our new prime minister, but they are suffering a major financial emergency.