New research has revealed that one in four degree courses have been scrapped nationwide since 2006.
Degree course figures have dropped from 70,052 to 51,116, the University and College Union has revealed. This means that 20,000 less full-time undergraduate courses are available now than six years ago. This includes a 15% reduction in the STEM courses of maths, science, technology and engineering. These courses are traditionally more expensive to offer.
England, which faces a massive increasive in tuition fees from this September, has lost over a third of degree options. Scotland, where education is free, lost only 3%. There is a concern of ‘academic deserts’ forming as some counties do not offer some ‘stand-alone’ subjects as common as French and German.
However Oxford University has not suffered such reductions. A University spokesperson commented, ‘Aside Biomedical sciences replacing Physiological Sciences and Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology, only two new courses have been introduced: Computer science and philosophy, and Philosophy, Psychology and Linguists. Oxford’s course offerings over the past 5-6 years have remained almost unchanged and we do not expect to substantially change our course offerings in the near future.’
In other university news, the University of Central Lancashire has introduced a counter-terrorism and airport security degree, the first degree offered in airport security. The degree can join other unique courses in the UK, including degrees in ‘History of Lace Knitting in Shetland’, ‘Ethical Hacking for Computer Security’ or ‘Robin Hood Studies’.
A recent surge in applications for vocational subjects has led to concerns that universities are prioritising ‘profit-subjects’ over more traditional disciplines. Sally Hunt, General Secretary at the UCU has accused ‘the government rhetoric’ as ‘all about students as consumers.’
Martha MacKenzie, president of OUSU, commented, ‘If Universities are thinking strategically about which courses to continue to support this is not automatically a negative. The UK has a strong reputation of pushing at the boundaries of research but both the variety and quality of degree programmes are vital to this.’
