All the UK universities forced to cut core subjects in 2024

To say that UK universities might be having a spot of financial trouble in 2024 would be the understatement of the century. The rise in tuition fees doesn’t seem to be making much difference to unis, because they’re getting rid of staff left, right, centre, and in any other place possible. Loads of UK universities are now forced to cut really basic, bog standard subjects. They simply can’t afford to run them.

Now, I can understand that UK unis might have to rein in some of the nicher courses, like “pre-Gothic poetry on the history of cheese-making in northern Italy” or whatever. But when your uni gets rid of, say, a whole science department, then you know trouble’s on the horizon.

So, here are all the UK universities which are having to cut core subjects in 2024.

Aston University

Believe it or not, this is Aston’s best-looking building
(Image by Christophe.Finot via Creative Commons)

Aston is considering scrapping chemistry courses. The uni announced early this year, “Due to changes in educational focus and alignment across the college we are proposing to close BSc Chemistry and BSc Applied Chemistry from Sept 2025.” Aston Uni hasn’t confirmed yet whether it’s definitely going to go ahead with this.

The uni is also going to restructure the chemical engineering and applied chemistry department, the electronics and computer engineering department, and the applied mathematics and data science department. I guess it’s not a great time to be a woman in STEM.

Canterbury Christ Church University

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This uni announced on 4th November that it’s giving up on English literature degrees, as well as most languages and linguistics courses. Apparently running them is “no longer viable in the current climate”.

Current literature students can finish off their degrees, but freshers won’t be able to start the course there in 2025. Anyone studying literature as part of a foundation year right now will have to pick a different subject to specialise in.

A second-year English and history Freya Hodge has started a petition to reverse the decision. She said scrapping literature was a “betrayal to the city of Canterbury”,  because the English lit staples Christopher Marlowe and Geoffrey Chaucer originated there.

Cardiff University

Keep on smiling, Cardiff students

This uni is definitely in its financial crisis era right now. As of January 2024, Cardiff Uni has a financial deficit of £12.7 million. Cardiff ran a voluntary redundancy scheme over the summer. This spring, Cardiff announced it was cutting the ancient languages courses. I guess Caecilius will no longer be in horto over there (that’s funny if you studied Latin at school, I promise).

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

In November 2024, it came out that the Uni of Central Lancashire might have to cut loads of subjects – chemistry, international relations, philosophy, politics and religion. The uni also plans to get rid of language courses, including French, German, Russian, Spaniah and Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

If the plan goes ahead, then students already on these courses will be able to finish them off. But the uni won’t recruit new students, and the staff will eventually be made redundant.

University of Hull

At least no expense was spared on mowing the lawn before this photo
(Image by Peter Church via Creative Commons)

The uni is undergoing some serious changes in order to avoid going bust. Hull hinted in the summer that it might have to close the chemistry department. A petition to save the department gained nearly 5,000 signatures, but didn’t have any impact. This week, the uni announced it was definitely axing the chemistry department. Students can still take chemistry modules as part of courses like medicine, but you can’t do a degree in just chemistry anymore.

According to the BBC, the uni is reorganising other departments to save money. The faculty of business, law and politics will become part of the faculty of arts, cultures and education.

Students were surprised by the decision, because the chemistry department at Hull has been really good in the past. Researchers there invented Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens. The Guardian ranked it as the fourth best uni for chemistry in 2024. Although, The Times only ranked it as the 42nd best uni for chemistry.

University of Kent

The uni seems to be in serious financial trouble. Kent is one of the many, many UK universities which are in enough trouble to cut arts and humanities subjects. Earlier this year, Kent announced it was going to “phase out” several key subjects – anthropology, art history, health and social care, journalism, audio technology and philosophy and religious studies. By cutting these courses, Kent had enough money to keep the English and modern languages departments open.

Oxford Brookes University

Brookes is getting rid of its whole maths and music departments.

The music students organised protests throughout the spring. They played their instruments loudly in the main Brookes building to literally demonstrate that they wouldn’t stay silent about this issue. Cutting the music department sucks for a lot of students who weren’t on the course, because the music staff organised loads of societies and choirs and concerts for other students to enjoy.

Featured image of Oxford Brookes University by Jpbowen via Creative Commons. Image was cropped and brightened.