Hertfordshire drops history, English and other humanities courses

The University of Hertfordshire has announced it plans to close several of its humanities courses, in a move staff have warned will cause “reputational damage” to the institution.

A spokesperson said that the “difficult decision” had been made to suspend recruitment to undergraduate courses in history, philosophy, English literature, linguistics and creative writing due to sustained low student recruitment and declining demand, meaning “they are no longer financially viable”.

They did not comment on the number of potential job losses, and added it is still working through the full impact of these decisions.

The spokesperson said that course closures “are never taken lightly”. 

“However, like many universities across the UK, we are having to take difficult but necessary and responsible decisions now, to ensure the university remains stable and well positioned for the future,

“Our focus remains on supporting current students to complete their studies, supporting colleagues through this period of change and maintaining high‑quality teaching and learning across the university.” 

The local University and College Union branch took to social media to criticise the move, claiming that impacted staff were called into a meeting on Friday 1 May ahead of the bank holiday weekend to inform them of the decision.

It insisted it will “defend our staff and students”, and “we believe a university that serves its region and its economy needs humanities degrees”.

“This decision will result in massive reputational damage. The way that the decisions have been communicated by senior management to colleagues has lacked transparency and care.

“Humanities colleagues have not seen any of the metrics used for the decision process, nor been asked for any input. There is no timeline set other than ‘as soon as possible’.”

Concerns have already been raised that humanities courses are being disproportionately hit amid the current redundancies wave, and recent analysis by Times Higher Education found that English language and literature academics have been some of the hardest hit by the cuts.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com