UK job cuts hit English and modern languages staff hardest

The number of academics working in under-fire departments such as English and modern languages in UK universities fell to a record low last year.

With the size of the academic workforce falling for the first time owing to a net loss of 2,200 jobs, new analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) data shows that these cuts have disproportionately hit certain fields.

The number of English language and literature academics fell by 8 per cent to 4,680 – among the largest decrease of all disciplines.

And the number employed in modern languages dropped 7 per cent to 4,890. This is 17 per cent below peak levels in 2015-16.

While cuts to arts and humanities departments have been happening for years, Claire Gorrara, pro vice-chancellor for research and public engagement at the University of London, said the figures were worrying.

“They suggest that we may be losing national capacity in disciplines that are vital not only for our research base and students’ personal and professional development but also for a healthy, creative and prosperous society and economy.

“We need more humanities not less in times when intercultural understanding and deep relationship building skills are at a premium locally, nationally and globally.”

The number of academics working in English, modern languages and Classics departments all fell to record lows in 2024-25.

Charles Forsdick, a professor of French at the University of Cambridge, said the figures were deeply concerning and show worrying developments across the entire higher education and research ecosystem.

“This is the story of a system gradually losing the breadth and depth of expertise that national skills, research capacity and cultural understanding depend on.

“Reductions in staff and provision will intensify this problem by creating further regional gaps, reducing student choice and increasing barriers to opportunity, particularly for economically disadvantaged students.”

There were also year-on-year declines in academic staff in nursing, psychology, social work and education.

Forsdick said these disciplines were all vital to the future of public services, while physics also faces some of the same pipeline challenges that modern foreign languages do.

“This tells us the issue is the system, not the subject. Leaving decisions about what is taught and researched in our universities solely to market forces risks narrowing provision in ways that do not reflect national needs,” he added.

The largest cut in absolute terms came in business and management studies, with numbers falling by 1,225 year-on-year. However, this was down from a record 21,710 in 2023-24 and it remains the second largest cohort of academics (20,485).

Forsdick said decisions to cut courses or reduce staff numbers are often reactions to short-term projections of student demand, but these quick fixes come at the expense of strategic vision and longer-term viability.

“This is a high-risk strategy. Students’ degree choices are constrained by factors beyond their control, and shaped by persistent, poorly evidenced narratives about value.”

In contrast to the arts, some fields are employing more academics than ever before, including veterinary science, chemical engineering, chemistry and biosciences. With a record 28,735 academics, the largest contingent work in clinical medicine.

Sarah Bowden, professor of German and medieval studies at King’s College London, said the university system risks becoming relatively STEM-heavy.

“Or we end up with a small number of elite universities that do arts and humanities, and then arts and humanities doesn’t become a driver of social mobility any more, and I think that’s a real problem.”

With concerns that job cuts will impact the student experience and therefore weaken demand, Bowden said there was a risk of creating a “vicious cycle” in these subjects.

“I think instead of cutting languages, universities should really be working together with languages departments to think about how they can maybe do things differently.”

Separate Hesa figures show the impact at an institutional level in terms of academics hired on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis working in certain fields.

The number working in modern languages fell from 160 to 110 at the University of Manchester – a 32 per cent cut. As a result, the north-west of England now has only 340 FTE academics in that field – less than half the number in London.

In English, some of the largest cuts came at Goldsmiths (a 42 per cent drop) and Nottingham Trent University (33 per cent).

Helen Small, the Merton professor of English at the University of Oxford, said the staffing picture is “uneven and quite unstable” across the UK.

“The main beneficiaries of increased competition between institutions have been some of the research intensives and larger metropolitan universities but the pattern is uneven even there.”

She said “cold spots” which have emerged around the country are becoming “colder”, as departments “cut staffing to the bone or face closure”.

Small warned that the knock-on effects of a subject no longer being available locally can affect all of education across a whole region, and impact on the quality of teaching.

“When you cut and don’t replace academic staff you lose expertise in ways that directly affect the department’s ability to cover a subject and maintain a sense of its range and vibrancy.

“If staff who teach and research in core areas go, those remaining can find themselves stretched too thin.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com