Edinburgh course cuts ‘abandoning Scottish culture and students’

The University of Edinburgh has been accused of prioritising generalist programmes which attract international students at the expense of degrees focused on Scottish interests, as it embarks on wide-ranging course cuts.

The institution has informed staff that more than 90 courses are set to close to new applicants from 2027, in what has been described as an “act of vandalism” by academics. It comes on top of news announced last year that Edinburgh was looking to cut £140 million from its budget.

Around half of the courses going are in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, including undergraduate courses in Celtic, Scottish literature, and Scottish ethnology, as well as many joint honours language courses.

Other specialist degrees, including divinity, textiles, performance costume, and jewellery and silversmithing are also up for the chop.

Marion Lieutaud, a vice-president of Edinburgh’s University and College Union branch, condemned a “slash and burn” strategy which she said was unlikely to deliver the hoped-for cost savings.

“There is no doubt that there will not be as many students interested in a general history programme as there were students interested cumulatively in those different specialties, so you will end up with less students,” she said.

On the loss of niche arts courses like textiles and jewellery, Lieutaud said the idea that students would transfer onto “a bigger programme that you can teach with less people” was “completely immaterial”. “If you don't have the specialised programme that they were interested in, they’re just not going to come,” she said.

Central to union members’ concerns is a fear that university managers are seeking to appeal to international students and their lucrative tuition fees, over the interests of local students. Domestic student numbers are capped under Scotland’s tuition-free fee regime, while international enrolments are not.

“The problem with the university senior management is that they want these massive programmes with loads of international students on them, but obviously that's not going to work for Scottish literature and Gaelic language…[This is] something that should be really concerning for Scottish people, and for the Scottish government,” Lieutaud said.

“This targeting of Scottish culture and Gaelic language in the cuts is very clear, and we’re seeing one of the most famous Scottish universities kind of deciding it's not valuable to them.”

The university is yet to announce whether there will be job cuts associated with the course closures, with academics facing a wait of several months to find out.

Emile Chabal, programme director for the MSc in contemporary history, which is earmarked for closure, said that when specialist courses are axed, “What’s lost is a sense of identity,” and “a window into what your department is really good at”.

“I think it’s an urgent question for the Scottish government to think about what they want their universities to represent and how they want, if at all, to distinguish what’s happening in Scottish universities  from what’s happening in universities in England, which is of course equally catastrophic.”

However, Robert Irvine, a reader in the department of Scottish literature, noted there are currently only six students on the Scottish literature course, with a further 13 students on one of its joint honour’s pathways, and disputed the idea that the course closure meant the university was turning its back on Scottish literature.

He said its English and Scottish literature programme – which has more than 30 students on it, and is not being cut – has increased the proportion of Scottish literature that students study.

“Closing the degree is not closing any of the courses. The title of the degree programme is just the name on the box,” he said, warning that it did not “advance the ends of education” to make a degree programme “a symbol of imperilled nationality”. 

A university spokesperson said that the institution regularly reviewed its academic portfolio “to make sure it is aligned with student demand, a constantly evolving job market and other external needs”, and said course closures were “never made lightly”. 

They defended the closures, saying around a fifth of those going had no students on them. 

“In light of this, staff and students have recently been made aware of changes to our future academic offering across schools. These decisions have been made following an in-depth consideration of data and disciplinary insights from academics and experts in their field. Proposals have then followed our robust governance processes. We remain committed to sharing information and supporting our community as we navigate the necessary steps to shape our future,” they said. 

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com