University of Sheffield suspends new intake for 28 courses in 2025

The University of Sheffield has suspended new student intake for 28 of its courses.

Courses affected include postgraduate degrees in Sociology, Language and Linguistics, and Orthodontics.

Teaching will continue for existing students on these courses, but no new students will be enrolled in the 2025/26 academic year. The full list of suspended courses is below.

According to the university’s student protection plan, while risk of course suspensions are “low”, staff “track student demand and may choose to close a programme to future cohorts where demand is declining or as part of a refresh of our wider portfolio”.

Decisions to suspend these courses were approved by faculties between November 2024 and April 2025, and new applicants and offer holders were notified by the university at the earliest opportunity. Not all of them will remain suspended in the future.

One course on the list is structural engineering and architecture, a four year dual-honours course which was first opened in 1995 as the first of its kind in the UK.

After students were notified of its suspension in February, one final year student told The Sheffield Tab the decision was “disappointing”.

They added: “We know how amazing the course is, we know the calibre of the teaching we’ve received, and how hard the staff worked for us. The student to staff ratio is fantastic and I feel so supported in every aspect of my education. It’s just a shame that the university doesn’t realise how amazing it is that they offer this.

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“From an employability point of view, this course is the reason I’ve had internship opportunities and graduate job opportunities. Employers know that students who come off the dual course have a really specific set of skills because it’s such a unique course in the country – I get opportunities because of that.

“I understand there’s books to balance, but I wonder if the people who made these decisions were more involved in the realities of this course, if they knew more, or had heard more from us about this course and how important it is, they would make the same choices.”

Another said: “For too long now you’ve had architecture and engineering in very separate disciplines, but it’s all starting to come back together. And that’s why the dual award has been so great because it’s put us at the forefront of that. If they’re now going to close that course, then suddenly we’re going to lose that advantage that we’ve built up  for the past 30 years.”

The option for an industrial placement year through the course has also been suspended.

This is alongside the suspension of year abroad options for six other Masters of Engineering degrees, including: Aerospace, civil engineering, civil and structural engineering, electronic and electrical engineering, electronics and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering.

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “Like all universities, we regularly review our courses to ensure they meet the needs of students, industry and professions, and often make changes to reflect this.

“While we are not offering a dual programme in structural engineering and architecture for 2025 entry, we continue to offer a variety of courses in these disciplines at undergraduate and postgraduate level.”

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Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly suggested the suspension of the undergraduate Landscape Architecture degree. BA Landscape Architecture is still active, while BSc Landscape Architecture has been suspended.