Exeter cuts

[Itchylegs]

Anyone panicking about large cuts to Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Exeter. Seems like the crisis in HE is getting bigger and bigger. It feels like such a crummy time to go to university.

DD has firmed Exeter for history so this was really disappointing for her. She chose the university for the course structure which is a lot more flexible than other history degrees and the campus location. She’s now considering going through clearing for another uni (she turned down offers to Bristol and York ) because she’s worried the course will now become narrower with fewer staff - and they can’t guarantee her accommodation on campus.

IME it isn't impossible to go back to a university from which you originally received an offer (eg Bristol) and explain why circumstances have changed and you would prefer to go to them.

@Ceramiq I don’t see Tony Blair as the issue here. The EBac included a MFL. Then no one liked the EBac because of this and vast numbers opted out because they didn’t care about the MFL requirement, the EBac and neither did schools.

The big issue is therefore not offering people who are good at MFLs a decent choice and this then sidelines the subject. In the meantime, DC can take 50% of GCSEs in maths related subjects and even more if you add in the sciences. They are almost certainly over catered for whilst MFLs barely register. Vast numbers of state schools don’t care one fig about MFL students and this manifests itself with falling entries, very limited choice and no encouragement. The clever dc are always the stem students apparently.

Students don’t even get a chance to take more than one MFL at gcse as a timetabled subject. Then they just do one at A level which doesn’t cater to their needs either. Of course this impacts on universities as these dc simply do not have their talents and interests recognised or praised so they don’t continue to university for MFLs.

Too many dc cannot be bothered with the learning required and do easier options which schools supply and applaud. Other countries have a very different view. The key is not to see these subjects as vocational. They give a much broader skill set and this is what schools should recognise, but they don’t.

'Endless expansion' - agreed. They were doing all sorts of building work when we visited.

Google tells me they've built and are building 17 major new accommodation and academic buildings on their campuses over the last 5 years (2021–2026) primarily focused on expanding student housing. West Park costing 185 million.

But they are cutting courses and staff.

I also agree these places are now run like a business, the same has happened to the NHS and to school academies.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner It is well documented in public policy analysis that Tony Blair's decision was a catastrophe for MFL. Read some analysis - there is some on the HEPI blog.

@Ceramiq Yes but they need to evaluate why dc were not expected to do the EBac. That was more recent and was designed to include a MFL.It was supposed to be a requirement, except dc didn’t do MFLs and the schools ones it. That is also well documented .

Also , in case you had not noticed, Blair went in 07/08! Whatever he did it’s utterly pointless now as the EBac legislation superseded it. The fact dc were excused MFL study and schools didn’t care about the EBac became the issue, not Tony Blair - that’s pretty obvious. It’s all about maximizing grades and not breadth of education and it’s not helping us as a country.

No what Blair did set in motion the dramatic decline of MFL and we are living with the consequences which have been exacerbated by other shocks. It's a cumulative series of negative events.

There are lots of bi and trilingual students around who have learned MFL elsewhere than at school in the UK and maybe the government thinks they will suffice for market needs?

Correct? But you can take your chances, reject your firm and go through clearing.

@Ceramiq Why do you think there are market needs for any MFL students? Most of my DDs cohort don’t use them and didn’t see the degree as vocational any more than an English degree is. It’s a launchpad like history or politics. You might find a MFL useful but few rely on their MFLs for work and a career.

I'm not suggesting that students "rely" on their languages for their careers but there are plenty of roles where languages are a pre-requisite and absolutely necessary but never alone. This is the issue: an MFL degree leads nowhere. FWIW our children and their friends use several languages every day in their jobs and would not have got anywhere like as far as they have without them but they aren't their key skill, they learned their languages before they went to university where they studied other subjects.

Your.children and their friends use several languages every day in their jobs, having learmed them pre-university? Gosh, that must be very unusual.

@persilasper This is one of the reasons dc who learn MFLs at school and don’t have the privilege of a mfl education (Dh and me speak no other languages) need to realise MFLs are not vocational. These jobs tend to go to the ones who have had all the advantages! However any dc learning a MFL from age 11 or 12 via school or just at uni is a pretty bright dc who has worked hard. Ones who get to Oxbridge with no parental help are definitely switched on. They just need to find their career away from the privileged ones. I’m delighted to say my dd is a barrister so clearly her MFL degree led nowhere! (Such a stupid ill informed comment) Such arrogance from the usual suspect poster! My dd had no intention of using her MFLs! Plus several of her barrister friends are MFL grads too. They are all doing very well and happy. Of course a MFL degree keeps doors open in the same way that history, politics, philosophy and English etc do but dc need to kick the door wide open and march through!

This from the Guardian illustrates why languages are still important.

Here's a link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/05/cutting-university-language-courses-puts-social-mobility-at-risk-say-experts

I have to say though, I don't really agree with the argument that MFL helps social mobility!

Can I ask why you don't think that? @persilasper My mum was a cleaner and my dad in the RAF. I wouldn't be where I am today without there encouragement and the fact that I was really good at MFL. Though some might say that a Head of Department in a secondary school is nothing to aspire to, I am proud of myself for getting there.

Thanks very much for the link. I found the article very interesting.

I am also interested in why you disagree with it.

@tadjennyp I think you have done well! I think you would be pretty rare now! It’s a talent that’s barely discovered now and dc do feel the bilingual dc are too good and cannot compete with them. Plus you get people saying they aren’t worthwhile. I think this is why the social mobility aspect is dimming and it’s independent schools and the grammars who are supplying very many candidates and grads. In many secondary schools, dc don’t even get to study 2 MFLs if they are good so it’s already not an education they need for their development. Stem is over catered for in many schools where these dc are called geniuses! MFL students never are.

Well potentially any degree helps with social mobility, but not specifically MFL in my opinion. And sadly (and unjustly in my view) at the moment MFL degrees are less well regarded than they were in the past.

The argument in the article seems to be mainly that they're a comparatively easy route into Oxbridge due to lower competition ratios. But equally you could argue they're an easy route in to Oxbridge for private school pupils at the moment (along with Classics maybe).

I agree with this. Even when my children went on open days over a decade ago there was an implication in depts that if you miss your grades, don't worry. And having proof read the English dissertation of a friend's daughter, I tend to agree. She got a First 🙄.
My children picked other universities simply on the basis they felt they'd be surrounded by students who weren't up to scratch. If that sounds elitist I'm sorry. But at the time it felt entirely off from a university which on paper asked for A*s down to Bs, but in reality was very willing to take far less.

@persilasper Indeed they are but you cannot make state schools push MFLs. However a bright person taking a MFL degree is going to do just as well as someone taking history if they plan their career and know what they want.

Not at all unusual in London.

There's plenty of evidence that a degree in MFL can open valuable doors, such as Oxford University's report on the Value of the Humanities, which states that languages graduates enjoy higher financial returns and transition into the labour market smoothly. It's not just their linguistic skills - though these are obviously an asset - it's the fact that their whole course is likely to hone intercultural skills, which are enormously valued in sectors such as banking. We don't need graduates to be numerically literate because of calculators [and isn't it interesting that while people lament about AI and translation, you never hear a peep about how we all need maths skills, even though calculators do everything for most people]. Bankers need graduates to assess workplace ethos and competition, to be able to write reports about whether to invest in a company or not, and Humanities graduates are far better placed to do that. And, of Humanities graduates, linguists are exceptionally prized because all that work looking at endings/ accents etc means that they have honed outstanding eyes for detail. Once you add in the flexibility and resilience necessitated by the year abroad, you can see why they are a good bet in the workplace. Being able to speak a second or third language is really just a small part of it. They go into a wide variety of sectors - lots go into the civil service, quite a few into media, loads into financial sector, quite a few do law conversion courses. Very few comparatively end up in translation or teaching.

@blackpear I quite agree. Linguists are quick learners - they have to be. Schools only want French and Spanish teachers - any other MFLs will be sidelined as unwanted.

Yes. Bilingual people in London are common but they are not white British normally. Lots of people who have moved here for work come from multi lingual families and some of them will do MFL degrees. How challenging it is for them is another matter. They have the family contacts abroad that others don’t have. So anyone who succeeds in the face of that is pretty good.

Do you mean people who are actually bilingual, or people who have learnt a foreign language at school? A-level standard wouldn't usually be useful in a professional context.

@persilasper Sometimes they do both, quite often they don’t need to.m because they a fluent. A level isn’t enough for working in a MFL, you need a degree and immersion abroad.