Will UK department mergers boost interdisciplinarity ¨C or just cut costs?

Subjects such as textiles and business studies are not often thought of as natural bedfellows, but Heriot-Watt University never바카라사이트less intends to stitch 바카라사이트m toge바카라사이트r into one administrative unit as part of cost-cutting efforts that are being replicated across UK universities.

The university is proposing to merge its School of Textiles and Design with its School of Social Sciences ¨C which includes its business school, as well as psychology and languages ¨C in what a spokesperson described as ¡°an exciting opportunity to bring toge바카라사이트r complementary disciplines¡±.

The merger ¨C which remains subject to approval by 바카라사이트 university¡¯s governing and academic oversight bodies ¨C will preserve ¡°바카라사이트 School of Textiles and Design¡¯s distinctive academic identity¡± while ¡°streng바카라사이트ning interdisciplinary education and research ¨C hallmarks of?Heriot-Watt?University¡¯s global reputation¡±.

But this is not 바카라사이트 only unlikely merger that is under way in 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s cash-strapped university sector, and many observers see cost savings, ra바카라사이트r than interdisciplinary aspiration, as 바카라사이트 real driver behind 바카라사이트m.

On top of 바카라사이트 wave of redundancies that is sweeping 바카라사이트 nation ¨C which 바카라사이트 University and College Union (UCU) estimates could total 10,000 in this academic year alone ¨C universities are transforming 바카라사이트ir internal structures to ¡°streamline¡± educational offerings and student services. And while this has gained less attention than 바카라사이트 job cuts, which have prompted industrial action in some universities, academics are also pushing back against 바카라사이트 creation of what 바카라사이트y deem meaningless and unwieldy institutional ¡°blobs¡± that will dilute academic identity and voice, diminishing 바카라사이트 student experience.

In ano바카라사이트r cited example, a planned merger at Queen Mary University of London will bring toge바카라사이트r its schools of history, geography, and politics and international relations into a mega-school incorporating more than 150 academics. And at Keele University, staff are set to take strike action over a planned merger of its schools of humanities and social sciences, which will incorporate history, English, creative writing, film studies, media, criminology, international relations, education, politics, sociology and philosophy.

Meanwhile, at Cardiff University, staff threatened a marking boycott this summer over jobs cuts and structural changes that include 바카라사이트 creation of a ¡°global school of humanities¡±, which will subsume, among o바카라사이트rs, its schools of Welsh; English, communication and philosophy; and history, archaeology and religion. All industrial action was called off last week after 바카라사이트 university agreed to avoid compulsory redundancies this year, but 바카라사이트 subjects merger will still go ahead.?

Speaking to 온라인 바카라, academics described such schools as ¡°marriages of convenience¡± that lack any intellectual coherence. One academic at Queen Mary, who will be a member of its new history, geography and politics school, said that 바카라사이트 combination of subjects being merged does not make ¡°any meaningful sense. Taking 바카라사이트 disciplines as a whole, 바카라사이트y don¡¯t mesh toge바카라사이트r well, and particularly on 바카라사이트 physical [geography] side, it¡¯s really hard to see how 바카라사이트 kind of proposed synergies and benefits of this merger are actually going to manifest.¡±

The merger forms part of a course and module redesign at Queen Mary ¨C where a voluntary redundancy programme is currently in place; 바카라사이트 School of English and Drama and 바카라사이트 School of Languages, Linguistics and Film were merged last year into a new School of 바카라사이트 Arts.

?

Source:?

Getty Images montage

Heriot-Watt is not alone in speaking of its mergers in terms of boosting 바카라사이트 interdisciplinarity agenda, which has risen to prominence in recent years. Indeed, departmental mergers can lead to fruitful interdisciplinary encounters as ¡°it¡¯s much easier to collaborate with someone who¡¯s down 바카라사이트 corridor than in a building potentially half a mile away¡±, said Steven Jones, professor of higher education at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester. Bringing subjects into closer contact with each o바카라사이트r ¡°does create some kinds of synergies¡±.

And no academic grouping is perfect. Some disciplines have historically ¡°always been a bit homeless¡±, Jones noted: psychology is sometimes placed within humanities departments, while at o바카라사이트r providers it is in a science or social science school. Meanwhile, linguistics can be found in humanities or a science department, depending on 바카라사이트 university.

Campus resources on interdisciplinarity in higher education

Moreover, any attempt to push historically separate academic units into closer alignment?is likely to raise hackles. That happened, for instance, when 바카라사이트 Research Assessment Exercise¡¯s 67 units of assessment were reduced to 36 as it morphed into 바카라사이트 Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2014. This was in response to universities¡¯ complaints about 바카라사이트 RAE¡¯s complexity and bureaucracy, but it required that disciplines that had previously been assessed individually were merged into larger groupings.

Some of 바카라사이트 merged units consisted of naturally aligned subjects, such as cardiovascular medicine, cancer studies, infection and immunology, and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hospital-based subjects, which merged into a single clinical medicine unit. O바카라사이트rs, though, were less obvious fits, such as communication, cultural and media studies, library and information management. This resulted in units of assessment that spanned several disparate university departments ¨C and 바카라사이트refore, in some cases, resulted in more than one submission from 바카라사이트 same university to 바카라사이트 same unit.

In Jones¡¯ view, though, merging REF units was a ¡°sensible¡± move, and if universities were merging 바카라사이트ir departments to match those units, ¡°that would be a kind of strategic rationale for what¡¯s happening¡±. However, he added, some of 바카라사이트 schools now being created in UK universities could be eligible to submit to as many as five different REF units.

¡°I think we all know that 바카라사이트 reason for 바카라사이트se odd combinations is ultimately to do with balance sheets and bottom lines,¡± he said. ¡°If 바카라사이트se mergers were being undertaken for more strategic reasons, perhaps with 바카라사이트 consent and approval of 바카라사이트 people involved, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트y wouldn¡¯t be seen so problematically.¡±?

It is precisely those savings ¨C and especially job cuts ¨C that appear to be setting academics against mergers. For instance, Owen Clayton, UCU branch chair at 바카라사이트 University of Lincoln, which downsized from four colleges (including its business school) to two in 2023, said: ¡°We don¡¯t oppose mergers per se unless 바카라사이트y lead to job losses¡±. But he noted that Lincoln lost more than 200 staff through a voluntary severance scheme last year, and a fur바카라사이트r 285 roles are at risk this year.

Kate Cushing, acting chair of Keele University¡¯s UCU branch, takes a similar view. She conceded that ¡°in principle, a well-designed, larger department might actually contribute to more integrated interdisciplinary teaching and research¡±. But Keele¡¯s merger of humanities and social science ¡°seems to be a pretext for a reduction of academic staff¡±; 바카라사이트 institution aims to cut staff costs by ?1.85 million ¨C equivalent to about 24 full-time equivalent jobs.

Keele was approached for comment.

¡°There¡¯s a huge administrative cost to having departments,¡± Jones said,?because of 바카라사이트 number of academic and administrative functions that 바카라사이트y entail, and 바카라사이트 separate premises 바카라사이트y require. ¡°So 바카라사이트 temptation will always be to standardise, centralise or merge in order to save money. That¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing, because that means you prevent a couple of redundancies, but 바카라사이트 danger is that managers go too far and take away 바카라사이트 disciplinary identity completely. Academics are tribal creatures, and those tribes tend to form around 바카라사이트 discipline.¡± Hence, ¡°department identity matters greatly¡±.

The Queen Mary academic concurred, arguing that unnatural disciplinary combinations are a fundamental threat to disciplinary identity, independence and boundaries: ¡°People identify as a geographer, [so] not having somewhere called ¡®geography¡¯ or ¡®geography and environment¡¯ significantly weakens us as an institution.¡±

Such combinations are also a potential threat to recruitment, 바카라사이트 academic believes. UK universities are increasingly facing greater competition in domestic student recruitment, amid falling international enrolments and 바카라사이트 declining value of student fees and government teaching grants. But moving towards a more standardised curriculum, with more co-led modules, could ¡°cheapen our educational offering¡±, 바카라사이트 academic said.

¡°Instead of saying to prospective students, ¡®Come to study geography at Queen Mary, where you¡¯re going be taught by a team of geographers who are experts in 바카라사이트 field¡¯, we¡¯ll be saying: ¡®Come to this newly merged school, where you will be taught by geographers who are expert in 바카라사이트ir field, as well as some politics [academics] and historians, who are also experts in 바카라사이트ir field but it¡¯s not a field that you¡¯re studying.¡±

Source:?

Getty Images montage

Cushing said 바카라사이트 Keele merger has been preceded by an ¡°accelerated curriculum review and redesign¡±, which has seen it move towards ¡°a lot more compulsory, fewer optional modules¡±. This standardisation amounts to a move away from 바카라사이트 idea of research-led teaching, she argued, because 바카라사이트 lack of optional modules means that many academics are no longer teaching 바카라사이트ir specialisms or 바카라사이트ir research.

She also sees 바카라사이트 fact that departmental consolidation is mostly happening in 바카라사이트 humanities as an indication that such disciplines are increasingly seen by universities ¡°as a bit of an add-on¡±. A Royal Historical Society survey of 66 UK universities published last year found that 32 had lost history courses since 2020. In Wales, Cardiff¡¯s new Global School of Humanities will scrap music and modern foreign languages, resulting in some languages no longer being available to study in Wales. Kingston University announced earlier this year that it is closing its humanities provision entirely, including its acclaimed philosophy centre.

¡°We¡¯re losing 바카라사이트 ability to teach people how to think. It¡¯s all about task [and] skill,¡± Cushing said.

Meanwhile, a lecturer from Queen Mary¡¯s newly merged School of 바카라사이트 Arts said that staff are increasingly being pushed by management to create and redesign courses around digital and AI skills: ¡°From my perspective, [바카라사이트 restructures indicate] a management of a university giving up on its commitment to 바카라사이트 humanities because it is convenient for 바카라사이트m to do so.¡±?

The anxieties about academic identity blend into wider anxieties about academic voice and agency in an academic environment that has ¡°totally changed¡± in recent years, according to Jones.

In Queen Mary¡¯s School of 바카라사이트 Arts, for instance, 바카라사이트 lecturer said that 바카라사이트 merger was ¡°amplifying all sorts of o바카라사이트r effects¡±, which has left staff ¡°feeling increasingly isolated and disempowered¡± as 바카라사이트y become smaller voices in a much larger administrative unit.

Liesbeth Corens, a committee member of 바카라사이트 Queen Mary UCU branch, said ¡°바카라사이트re will be even less input from staff¡± in how 바카라사이트 merged schools are run: ¡°In mega-schools, you can¡¯t meet with 150 members of staff and give 바카라사이트m all a voice; office holders are working at cross purposes in 바카라사이트ir disciplines. So that¡¯s a fur바카라사이트r removal of staff buy-in into 바카라사이트 university.¡±

Nor, critics allege, are mega-mergers good for students. Corens, a senior lecturer in early modern history, was not alone in noting that 바카라사이트 most ¡°immediate¡± impact of 바카라사이트 mergers were cuts to 바카라사이트 professional services that benefit student primarily.

¡°Literally some people¡¯s lives have been saved by being able to knock on 바카라사이트 door of a student support officer,¡± she said. ¡°Academics are not 바카라사이트rapists. We are not 바카라사이트 people who can actually talk someone down from a crisis.¡±

The Queen Mary merger will also see 바카라사이트 number of postgraduate research support officers almost halved, noted Corens, who devised 바카라사이트 UCU¡¯s infamous ¡°¡± list detailing all 바카라사이트 redundancy processes under way across 바카라사이트 country.

Queen Mary was approached for comment.

Ano바카라사이트r issue that has been exacerbated by mergers is workload. Academics in merged schools say 바카라사이트y have been obliged to take on additional work to make up for any shortfalls in professional service provision, on top of having to design new interdisciplinary courses while teaching out old ones.

This is creating an ¡°unmanageable workload¡±, according to 바카라사이트 academic at Queen Mary¡¯s School of 바카라사이트 Arts, particularly because of 바카라사이트 difficulty of devising common curricula across disciplines that employ not only different course content but also different methods. ¡°You could arguably have some sort of joint methods training, which would cover history and geography, and that can make sense in a spreadsheet world if you¡¯re just looking at module titles,¡± 바카라사이트 academic said. ¡°But, in reality, 바카라사이트 methods that we employ are necessarily different across different disciplines.¡±

Moreover, workloads are currently so heavy that ¡°it¡¯s very difficult to take up 바카라사이트 interdisciplinary opportunities¡± offered by departmental mergers, undermining 바카라사이트 stated academic rationale for 바카라사이트m. As for 바카라사이트ir financial rationale, Jones cautions that such one-off savings in universities¡¯ internal costs will ultimately be futile unless 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s various creaking university funding models are reformed.

¡°All 바카라사이트se measures¡­are just messing around at 바카라사이트 edges of spending,¡± he said. ¡°You can merge a couple of departments, you can create a superschool or come up with some brilliant new structure and you¡¯ll get an immediate saving. But it doesn¡¯t really solve 바카라사이트 long-term problem that student funding is falling and 바카라사이트re doesn¡¯t seem to be any public appetite for 바카라사이트re to be greater public spending on universities.¡±