The Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes, writes this week for History Workshop.
In her article — ‘Making the Case for History. A View from the Royal Historical Society’ — Lucy considers the implications of cuts on the provision of history teaching and research, and how we advocate for our discipline and profession. Headlines from the article include:
The extent and impact of cuts
- Between 2021 and Spring 2025, the Society has worked with historians from 23 UK institutions facing challenges to fulfil their responsibilities as teachers and researchers.
- Communications come from across the UK, from all kinds of institutions, and those working in and outside of history departments.
- Cuts are continuing to hit hardest in departments at Post-92 universities. Here, nearly 90% of history departments, in a 2024 RHS survey, reported cuts to staffing since 2020, and nearly 60% have seen cuts to degree programmes.
Student numbers and choices
- History is in the 10 most popular subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences. However, history enrolments are falling: by 11% between 2019 and 2023.
- UCAS data shows the sharpest decline in undergraduate history admissions is among male students aged 18. For female students aged 18 years, the number of accepted applicants in history—between 2020 and 2024—has remained stable.
- While history is seen as a ‘gateway’ subject at A-Level, students, parents and teachers are increasingly cautious of the ‘value’ studying history at university.
Advocating for history
- Those who do study history at university consider it valuable: in the 2024 National Student Survey, 80% of history graduates were confident the skills gained would serve them well in the workforce—a level higher than many more overtly vocational programmes.
- History is of great appeal to the public: much of this popular and public history originates with historians in UK universities
- Organisations promoting history and the humanities need to coordinate their work, share expertise, and campaign together when appropriate. We need to train ourselves—and also our members—to become more effective advocates.
Earlier this month, Lucy also spoke to BBC History Online about the current state of history in UK higher education, the impact of cuts, and harnessing the wider popularity of history in national culture.
You can also read more in the Society’s latest briefing, ‘The Value of History in UK Higher Education and Society’ (October 2024), which includes downloadable charts, tables and slides on the professional opportunities afforded by a history degree.
Header image, and all images in the article, commissioned from Eanna Swan by History Workshop.
In this lecture, Mark Stoyle explores how those in the English South-West looked back on two major risings which broke out against Henry VII in Cornwall in 1497; the short-lived revolt against Edward VI’s religious changes in West Cornwall in 1548; the full-blooded protest against those same changes which convulsed Devon and Cornwall in 1549, and, finally, the abortive attempt to stir up a rebellion in Devon against Mary I’s impending marriage to Philip of Spain in 1554.
