The humanities and theology faculties have to save ten million SKR.
The reason is that fewer students want to study subjects within these fields.
600 places will be removed next year.
This autumn 800 places are empty in the humanities and theology fields. This means that the belt has to be tightened substantially before next year. The number of places will be cut back from 4 565 to 4 000, and along with them the university will loose 10 million Swedish kronor in grants.
Teachers may be given notice
Right now, discussions are being held within the faculties to decide where cutbacks should be made.
– It may include not renewing the contracts for substitute teachers or making the administration more efficient. We also have to think about cutting back staff, says Jan Svensson, Dean of Humanities and Theology.
The proposal that has drawn the most attention so far involves dropping the classical languages Latin and Greek from the curriculum (see separate article). But musicology and speech and language technology are also at risk.
Jan Svensson has no unambiguous answer as to why students are not choosing humanities and theology, but he says that when taking the whole country into account there are too many educational places.
He also believes that many students think twice before taking student loans or are afraid that the education will not lead to work.
This especially affects the free standing courses, because they are more sensitive to changes in attitudes.
– We are also concerned that the cuts in quality that we have been forced to make over the years have resulted in educations that are not as good as we would like them to be, he says.
Plans for marketing
According to Jan Svensson, the resources have to be used far more efficiently, and the student unions agree with him.
– Courses across the field will have to be more coordinated. This will involve, for example, giving one shared basic grammar course or coordinating the method- and theory courses before the essays, says Ida Andersson, Vice President of the Student Union of the Faculty of Humanities.
Jan Svensson is also self-critical about how the faculty has handled marketing towards potential students.
– We have not done well enough, then we would have had more students. Of course, we take part in fairs and such, but in the future we have to intensify our work.
Translation: Lin M Grimhammar
