Why are there more places for classics than computer science at Oxford?

[delicatedonkey]

Came across this quote from Rachel Reeves in today’s Times, “There are many more places at Oxbridge to study classics than there are to study computer science, and the number of children applying for computer science [means] it’s very hard to get in. Whereas if you apply for classics, there’s a much higher chance. We should be expanding the courses that businesses say that they need people to have the skills in.” Why in the 21st Century, with technology and AI becoming increasingly important, is this the case? It is absolutely imperative that a breadth of humanities subjects should continue to be taught but there does appear to be a real imbalance here in terms of places available and offer rates.

@Abouttimeforanamechange has answered some of the reasons for wanting some classicists, @behindthemall

It's a very tone deaf comment imo, sounds like chasing after Farridge's comment about too many people going to university. Having an easy pop at a university is daft imo, especially at the moment when it's a sector that is struggling.

Studying Classics in depth, like any language or abstract subject, presumably has highly transferable skills to... computing anyway.

Well yes it does but that's because only those with Latin and or Greek to A level can apply for Course I, which has the largest intake. Remarkably few state schools (even grammars) offer a classical language to A level (or even at GCSE). So in a sense it's not elitism created by Oxford but by the state school system which decided classical languages were too hard/ 'dead'.

For those bold enough to try to master one or both classical languages from scratch in the first four terms, there is Course II. But it's an incredibly demanding course both linguistically and in terms of workload and not for the fainthearted.

PP have already explained the difference between an academic and vocational university OP, but I'd also like to add that Oxbridge (and a handful of other prestigious universities) are in a different league to even most of the 'RG'.
Thy focus on academic courses which are intellectual demanding and attract people who know how to think as @PermanentTemporary points out, which bodes well for future employment.

Also as a software engineer I wouldn't pay too much attention to business moaning about a shortage of tech talent. There has been a massive hype in the media, for the last decade or so. While the unemployment rate for CS graduates remains high. and everybody and their grandmothers are trying to 'career change' into technology, just look at the dozens and dozens of threads here.

The industry goes through boom/bust cycles with the availability of finance and offshoring, AI is also a threat. It's also difficult to do well. Out of the people who can actually program, many cannot cope with the design and building of systems which require broader skills balancing various factors such as finance, maintainability, keeping up with new developments etc.

'talent shortage' = 'we want cheaper labour'

Also - companies want competent seniors for a low rate, but don't want to train entry level talent.
Their job descriptions have a laundry list of very specific technologies requiring 5 years of experience in something only released 2 years ago.
They reject CVs without considering the commonalities between what people have, allowing them to pick up something new quickly... Especially if it's bleeding edge people won't have widely used it!

Some of the best programmers (and dare I say, myself as well) don't have CS degrees.

There's also a big industry of 'bootcamps' which accept government funding to train people in stuff you can find for free on the internet.

Nobody has any interest in telling the truth

As far as I understand it, it's pretty much all to do with the colleges. Other universities can build more halls somewhere and take more students. It's harder to expand the size of the colleges, although most are trying. So the only way to increase the CS intake (which I am pretty sure the CS dept would very much like to do) is to decrease other intakes .... Given that we've decided it shouldn't be Classics, who gets culled? 😉

My experience as a university professor with colleagues in computer science.

Thy focus on academic courses which are intellectual demanding and attract people who know how to think .

I thought it was established that RR herself is an Oxford alumna...?

Anyone else find that the saying about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing rather springs to mind?

Well said! If I had my time again, I'd choose an easier degree.

Well of course it's relevant - there's no balance at all at Imperial but no one is going around saying it ought to offer humanities degrees are they? Might do some of them good to be exposed to non STEM thinking over the lunch table. (Although to be fair the other 1852 estate institutions share the bar).