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Supporting History teaching and research in UK universities: a toolkit

by | May 24, 2022 | General, RHS Work | 0 comments

SUPPORTING HISTORY TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN UK UNIVERSITIES: A TOOLKIT

 

A number of UK History departments have recently been faced with, or are experiencing, cuts to programmes and staff, or mergers with other disciplines. 

As part of its advocacy role, the Royal Historical Society works with historians and heads of department who face significant change to their professional lives. Some of this work is ‘behind the scenes’ in communication with departments and university managers. Other aspects of this role include the provision of commentaries and resources to support historians, as best we can.

This page brings together these resources and contacts, and is regularly updated as new data and reports become available. The Toolkit is also a ‘work in progress’ and we welcome proposals from colleagues for additional information, especially from those who have – or are – experiencing cuts to staffing, research and teaching provision in their departments. To offer suggestions, please email the Society’s Academic Director. All communication is confidential and will not be disclosed by the Society.

Version: March 2025

 

 

1. Contacts at the Royal Historical Society

If you wish to get in touch with the Society, in confidence, please contact either:

It is our experience that communication with universities is most effective when made as early as possible, so please do contact the Society at the soonest opportunity.

 

2. Activities run by the Royal Historical Society

RHS Visits to History departments: Council members and staff make regular Visits to UK departments to discuss research and policy with colleagues. The latest set of Visits took place between May 2023 and May 2024 when members and staff visited historians at the universities of Edge Hill, Northampton, Kent, Canterbury Christ Church, the Highlands and Islands, Hertfordshire, York and York St John, and Brunel.

Forthcoming visits in 2025 , following a recent open call, include to the Falmouth campus of the University of Exeter, Aberdeen, Suffolk and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

‘Conversations’ with Historians: the Society runs regular series of informal discussion sessions for historians. Discussions help inform the Society on professional priorities, interests and concerns. Recent series include Mid-Career Conversations for Historians (2023) and Doing in History in Public (2024).

Surveys of our membership: the Society invites responses from members on matters relating to History teaching and research, especially in UK Higher Education. Recent surveys include those on Open Access and History Publishing (2024) and Cuts and Closures to Staffing and Course Provision in UK History Departments (2024).

Meeting with UK History Societies: from 2024 the Society hosts annual meetings of heads of UK History Societies to discuss support for the discipline and profession. From Spring 2024, the Society has passed responsibility for Heads of Department meetings to colleagues at History UK as the partner organisation that works most closely with departmental heads.

Details of additional activities are provided in the Society’s weekly e-circular of History news (e.g. 6 March 2025 issue), sent to all Fellows and Members of the Society: if you’re a member of the Society and not receiving this update, please let us know.

 

3. Contacts and advice from other UK History departments

The Society is in contact with a number of historians who have recently faced cuts to their departments, in terms of programme closures or redundancies. These historians have experience of organising and responding to difficult and unexpected situations, and have often gained knowledge and skills that may be new and valuable to others who now find themselves in similar situations.

We have now consolidated this advice as a separate document which outlines a detailed ‘check-list’ of recommended actions for members of a department facing cuts. This document is available on request from the Society for historians in UK Higher Education concerned about programme mergers, closures or redundancies.

The Society also has a confidential list of professional historians in UK Higher Education who are willing to speak to colleagues now facing threats to teaching or research in their departments. If you wish to be put in touch, in confidence, with colleagues from other departments, please contact the Society’s Academic Director. Please also contact us if you would like to offer your experience and advice, in confidence, to others. The Society is very grateful to those who have already offered their time and expertise in this area. 

 

4. Contacts for other learned and historical societies: UK and international

The Society has available listings of additional UK societies and institutions dedicated to the support of history and cognate disciplines in the humanities. In the addition, we have listings of prominent learned societies and professional bodies for historians outside the UK.

 

 

5. Data in support of History and humanities degrees

Recent challenges to departments have often made reference to the value and appeal of a History degree, both in terms of students’ future employability and salary compared to other disciplines.

There are extensive data to challenge this assumption, which is summarised here. Much of this information is taken from the ‘further resources’ listed under 6. below.

In addition to these resources, the RHS also provides Data on the UK Historical Discipline and Profession which offers up-to-date releases of external content relating to key areas, such as numbers and profiles of academic History staff; History degree enrolments; pre-University student numbers in History, and professional outcomes for History graduates. The Society updates this page as new data are released. Many of the external providers also offer data for previous years, enabling the mapping of trends for at least the past decade.

The Society’s data page includes content on student enrolments in Higher Education, academic staff numbers, outcomes and salaries for History graduates, and information on numbers of GCSE, A-Level and Scottish Highers students in History. The page is regularly updated as new data is released. The current version covers content up to March 2025.

 

a). History enrolments at GCSE and A-Level (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

The absolute number of young people taking history at school has followed an upward trend for the past decade and continues to rise. Uptake at GCSE in 2024 showed significant growth over the past decade, at 325,437 students (contrast with 222,983 in 2016), an increase of 39.5%. This is compared, for the same timeframe, with a 20.6% increase in student numbers for arts, humanities and social science subjects, and a 12.6% increase for all subjects at GCSE.

It is the Society’s view that this strong recent growth in GCSE History will correct the recent modest drop in A-level entries (in 2020), itself a consequence of a decline in the number of A-level candidates, rather than a shift away from the subject. Indeed, data for A-Level enrolments in History 2020-2023 shows a 5.3% increase in student numbers.

The source for History GCSE and A-Level enrolments (and grades) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the Joint Council for Qualifications (JQC) which provides data for 2020-2023. In each case, figures are available for enrolments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

From October 2024, data on History enrolments at GCSE and A-Level are available annually from the British Academy via a new SHAPE Indicators tool. See also their report ‘Studying Shape: 2022’ which provides data on student numbers for History (and other subjects) between 2012 and 2023. Figures used in the report are available via the British Academy’s accompanying SHAPE Indicators page. For further analysis of the report see ‘Subjects at risk – assessing the health of the social sciences and humanities’ (Wonkhe, 11 January 2023).

A summary of 2024 enrolments for A-Level, Scottish Higher and GCSE History, plus trends over time and against other arts, humanities and social science subjects, is available in this RHS blog post: Student Numbers in History for A-Level, GCSE, and Scottish Highers, 2024 (August 2024).

 

b). History enrolments at National 5 and Highers (Scotland)

The source for History National 5 and Highers enrolments (and grades) for is the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which provides data for 2019-2023. For pre-2019 records, see the SQA Statistics Archive.

  • History enrolments at National 5 in 2023 rose 3.35% on 2022; enrolments in 2023 are 12.37% higher than for 2018
  • History enrolments for Highers in 2023 rose 2.53% on 2022; enrolments in 2023 are 1.98% lower than for 2018

From January 2023, data on History enrolments at National 5 and Highers are available annually from the British Academy. See their report ‘Studying Shape: 2022’ which provides data on student numbers for History (and other subjects) between 2012 and 2023. Figures used in the report are available via the British Academy’s accompanying SHAPE Indicators page. For analysis of the report see ‘Subjects at risk – assessing the health of the social sciences and humanities’ (Wonkhe, 11 January 2023).

A summary of 2023 enrolments for Scottish Highers, plus trends over time and against other arts, humanities and social science subjects, is available in this RHS blog post: Student Numbers in History for A-Level and Scottish Highers, 2023 (August 2023).

 

c). Admissions to History courses

 

d). Employment for History graduates

 

 

6. Further resources: reports, briefings and commentaries

The following reports provide further information on key points often raised when changes to department programmes or staffing are proposed. These include: the use and value of History as a discipline; the lack of transferable skills for employment; the employability of History students on graduation; and the salary of, and future career options open to, History graduates relative to other technology-focused and STEM subjects.

 

a). Royal Historical Society

 

b). History UK

 

c). Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)

 

  • ‘The Humanities in the UK Today. What’s Going On?‘, Report (2023) which states the vitality and value of the humanities in global comparison and for the UK economy, in which graduates will face multiple career changes for which a humanities degree is good training. This multi-author report includes contributions from historians and others, working principally at Russell Group institutions. The report focuses primarily on the value of the humanities as practice and less on the structural changes within UK Higher Education that threaten the delivery of humanities (and history) teaching and research. A launch event – ‘Are the Humanities in Crisis?’ (April 2023) – was held by The Policy Institute, Kings College London, with a video of this discussion available here.

 

 

d). The British Academy

Like HEPI, the British Academy offers a range of recent reports, looking at skills, career pathways and economic contributions in the humanities and social sciences. These include, by publication date:

The SHAPE initiative, co-led by the British Academy, also provides ideas for advocacy: see, for example, the introductory article: ‘All subjects have a role to play in rebuilding post-Covid. Let’s SHAPE the future together,’ Wonkhe (June 2020).

The British Academy’s SHAPE Observatory provides further content, including data on the economic contribution of SHAPE and disciplinary guides to selected subjects.

In addition the British Academy undertakes detailed disciplinary analysis of the state of selected subjects in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: History has not yet been studied, though the following reports may be of interest: Reflections on Archaeology (2016), Languages Provision in UK Higher Education (2023), English Studies Provision in UK Higher Education (2023), and Media, Screen, Journalism and Communication Studies (2024).

 

In 2024-25, the British Academy has also created heat maps which chart degree provision for humanities and social science subjects in UK higher education between 2012 and 2023. The latest version of these maps (January 2025), with an introductory guide, is available here. Maps may be searched at subject level, including History.

 

e). Other reports

 

 

 

f). Commentaries from the Royal Historical Society, and other learned societies

The RHS has incorporated some of the research listed above in its own recent commentaries on the civic value of History, the place of History at Higher Education, and the importance of universities for local communities and students unable to live away from home. These commentaries include:

Statements on the value of History degrees, and practical tips for their defence, are also available from other societies, including the American Historical Association:

 

g). Similar Toolkits from disciplinary organisations in History and the wider humanities, in the UK and internationally

Guides are also available from the following UK and US organisations: if you know of other toolkits from which colleagues may benefit please let us know.

 

 

7. Raising the profile of a campaign

Recent campaigns in defence of UK History departments have made effective use of social media to promote their concerns. The following are examples of campaign activities (History and other disciplines) which may offer guidance for others. 

 

8. Engaging with UK parliamentarians at Westminster

The Royal Historical Society maintains a list of 90 Members of the UK House of Commons and 160 Members of the UK House of Lords who state an interest in History in their public Who’s Who entry. This includes individuals with a History degree, History publications, committee activity or a research interest in the discipline or higher education more broadly or membership of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on History & Archives and Universities. The Society holds meetings with UK parliamentarians, to highlight the personal, professional, and civic value of History; the challenges now facing our sector; and the work of the RHS.

From the constituency, engaging MPs and local politicians, as well as a university’s notable alumni, is regularly identified as an important element of recent campaigns to defend departments from cuts. Constituency MPs should have vested interested in higher education in their region. This includes an institution’s contribution to the local economy through staff and students, and the fortunes of the many students who study at HEIs within their home constituency. Writing in numbers to local MPs, with firm evidence of the negative impact of cuts and closures, can raise the profile of a campaign.

If you wish to receive our list of UK politicians with an interest in History, please contact the Society’s Academic Director.

 

 

 

9. Additional organisations in History and the wider humanities

The Royal Historical Society is one of many organisations advocating for History and the wider humanities. The following networks, with which the RHS works closely, may be of interest for their advocacy programmes and resources:

 

 

 

 

This resource remains a ‘work in progress’ …

We invite colleagues to help us develop this page and its resources to ensure they’re as useful as possible. This version: March 2025

If you have recommendations for additions to any of these sections, or for the inclusion of further sections, please contact: academic.director@royalhistsoc.org

 

 

All information provided on this page is correct to the best of our knowledge (March 2025). The Society is not responsible for the content of external links it provides here, though we seek to ensure the accuracy of URLs to external resources and will maintain and update the page as required.

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