In January, the University of Kent said more jobs would be cut in a bid to save nearly £20m.
Last February, the university announced proposals to cut 58 jobs and “phase out” six subjects – art history, anthropology, health and social care, music and audio technology, journalism, and philosophy and religious studies – in response to its “financial challenges”.
Third-year journalism student Brendan Papp, 21, is being “taught out” – meaning students currently on the cancelled course are seeing it through until completion.
When he applied, he says the course ranked in the top five in the country. Now, he says, it’s fallen to “dead last”.
An international student from Virginia in the US, Brendan came to the UK to chase his dream of becoming a sports reporter. Now, he’s keen to complete his course so he can move to Madrid to do sports management instead.
He says the class lost “two really good teachers because of the cuts”.
Now he says “it feels like you’re running into a wall” and, with engagement in the course dipping, he’s struggling to see the results from his hard work.
Brendan says the staff have been “excellent”, though, trying to provide an experience that’s “as good as possible”.
One staff member from a different department, who asked not to be named, says they believe the previous cuts have had a knock-on effect on student recruitment, leading to further cost-saving measures and damaging staff morale.
A university spokesperson says that sentiment is not reflected in its staff surveys.
They say “sector finances are under severe pressure and, like many other institutions, we have been making wide-ranging changes” in order to “reflect what students and government are looking for from universities”.