Academics are doubling down on efforts to show the worth of arts and humanities degrees in the face of increasingly harsh criticism and cuts to jobs at several departments in UK universities.
Hundreds of redundancies planned across institutions including the universities of Kent, Brighton and East Anglia were all said to be disproportionately affecting non-science subjects, with some fearing a “tipping point” that could see provision disappear from parts of the country.
The Times columnist Emma Duncan wrote recently that this demise should be “cheered” because these courses do not lead to well-paid jobs but scholars say such criticism is based on an outdated view of what a creative degree provides.
A report released last month by the University of Oxford found that its humanities graduates earn well above the national average, with more going into the business sector than any other profession; one of several recent studies attempting to defend the fields.
