Cuts to the Arts and Humanities have been going on for years in the UK. Several great departments were closed down. But in most places, the erosion was more gradual. /1
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Prospective students pay attention and choose courses that are unlikely to be closed. You don’t want to be in the middle of your degree with no possibility of finishing the course you chose. It happened in the US. Courses can’t be funded on the basis of the number of ‘customers’.
Did you lose joint honours, which from a teaching point of view add no costs since all modules would be offered anyway? This time, because they are 'too difficult to administer'? /3
Were you told that modules must have a minimum of students, one that you know is unfeasible for some of the skills you teach (e.g. a difficult ancient language, such as Akkadian)? Your time would be better used elsewhere, it seems. /5
Did any of these cuts help in any way? Didn't they seem to deepen the crisis even further? Didn't you feel that you were 'salami sliced' into oblivion? /6
It is high time we asked 'what is the academic reason for your suggested cuts'? Because administration, however essential, should not be the factor for cuts. And cutting 'cheap' Humanities departments solves nothing, when the issues are at the top. /7
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