Northumbria shutters degrees one month after ‘no closures’ pledge

Northumbria University has withdrawn a number of its business courses, despite reassurances from senior management last month that it would not make cuts. 

The university’s undergraduate degrees in business with French and business with Spanish will no longer be taking applications, with current students being “taught out”, while any applicants accepted onto next year’s course will have their offers rescinded.

This comes after Northumbria vice-chancellor Andy Long wrote in an all-staff email sent on 9 October that “there are no planned programme closures or redundancies” as part of an ongoing university-wide restructure, and committed to maintaining Northumbria “as a comprehensive university, offering a wide range of disciplines”.

The announcement came as the university unveiled a multimillion-pound investment in its first university-wide high-performance computing facility, and follows similar moves at universities across the country, including Canterbury Christ Church University, which recently announced that it would be teaching out its English literature course for current students because of cost pressures and falling student enrolments.

Jon Bryan, a regional support official with the University and College Union, said the U-turn “raises serious questions over whether we can rely on statements made by management”. 

“We are now concerned about what may come down the road. The university must begin consulting with UCU immediately and be open about any further plans,” he said. 

Meanwhile,UCU branch manager Andy Freeney, said: “We have written to the vice-chancellor asking to meet. These announcements are demoralising for staff and we are considering the next steps that the union might take.”

A university spokesperson said students will be able to continue to learn languages as part of their studies through its Unilang programme, but added that the ongoing review into its portfolio will see the “two very small” undergraduate programmes closed. 

“This is part of the regular cycle of portfolio review and is not connected to wider work on our academic structures. It is vital that we continually review our programmes and their content in order that we are able to deliver for our students and ensure that our programmes provide the next generation of graduates to power an inclusive economy,” they said.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com