The crisis in UK higher education is a national security issue

Universities’ important role in national defence is undisputed, but the breadth of that importance is typically overlooked.

Research in the physical sciences often has applications in defence technology even when it hasn’t been undertaken with that specific goal in mind. And, in that sense, you might argue that as long as those subjects are protected, the bombshells about job cuts that are seemingly being dropped every day, across the UK, are not a national security threat. But you’d be wrong.

The value of social sciences, arts and humanities to national defence may not be immediately obvious, but it can’t be overstated. Defence is not just about soldiers and technology. It is also about social resilience – which, as defined by Nato, includes factors such as the ability to withstand coercion and interference through disinformation campaigns.

In that regard, the critical thinking skills instilled by the social sciences, arts and humanities are vital as Russia intensifies its influence operations against the West. As former chief of the general staff Patrick Sanders has argued, UK universities, and in particular the humanities, play a vital role in educating both future leaders and the wider public, not just through research and teaching, but also through public engagement and knowledge dissemination.

Moreover, national resilience is not only about the ability to respond to the threats that a state can predict. Even more important is the ability to respond to less predictable shocks – to imagine the unimaginable. And that is where the research skills of historians and the imaginations of creatives come in.

This value is already being harnessed by Nato – which has commissioned science fiction writers to envisage how the organisation will look in 2099, in order not only to engage the public but also to provide insight for Nato leaders on future threats.

The importance of social resilience was noted by prime minister Keir Starmer in a recent oral statement on national security. At a time of rising geopolitical uncertainty, which threatens more direct conflicts and more shocks to the international system, “We will have to ask British industry, British universities, British businesses, and the British people to play a bigger part,” he said; “use this to renew the social contract of our nation, the rights and responsibilities that we owe one another”.

This spring’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) presents a crucial opportunity to formally acknowledge higher education as a strategic pillar of national security. And along with Starmer’s remarks in the House of Commons, Durham University chancellor Fiona Hill’s co-leadership of the review strongly suggests that academia’s contributions to defence will indeed be considered.

However, even as Starmer announced a ramping up of defence spending last week, he is doing nothing to prevent the ongoing disintegration of the UK’s world-class research capacity across the disciplines. 

By 2025-26, the Office for Students predicts that 72 per cent of UK universities will be in deficit, and the consequences of that for university staffing are already abundantly clear. Even Russell Group universities such as Newcastle, Cardiff and  Edinburgh have announced big cuts in recent weeks, and the group’s chair, Newcastle’s Chris Day, has warned that what we have seen so far is only the “the tip of the iceberg if something isn’t done in the immediate future”, with “the potential for institutional failures” very real. 

A robust civil defence plan relies on an ability to mobilise significant civilian capacity, including medics, technology experts and logistics professionals. The funding crisis in higher education threatens this capacity. How can the UK fully contribute to a collective Nato defence scenario when nursing degrees are being cut? How can it respond to global adversaries, or engage with partners, if it lacks language graduates?

Clearly, a fundamental rethink of higher education funding is necessary across the UK. Yet the government has shifted responsibility on to universities, with England’s education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, calling last November for a “re-examination of business models and much less wasteful spending”.

If the government allows universities to shrink, deprioritise key disciplines or even collapse completely, it will actively undermine the UK’s ability to defend itself, not just in conventional warfare but also against hybrid threats. We would risk entering an era of heightened geopolitical instability underprepared and with an under-informed population, a vulnerability that no serious defence strategy can afford.

Investing in higher education is not a luxury. It is a national security imperative.

Katharine A. M. Wright is a senior lecturer and Megan A. Armstrong is a lecturer in international politics at Newcastle University.