Recent media reports have flagged concerns about the future of Humanities disciplines in regional Australian universities citing decreasing enrolments, restructures and cutting of courses as reasons behind students’ exodus to metropolitan universities.[1]
While these broader concerns about the future of Humanities disciplines are shared by many of us in the Higher Education sector (and in our communities), this view of regional universities is inaccurate. Falling enrollments, restructures, and cuts to courses, have been distributed across the sector. In fact, the large urban universities were by far the hardest hit by Covid-19, and they led the way in 2020 with the most drastic cost-saving measures.[2]
Universities often appear to be making cuts in HASS disciplines first (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences) in times of financial stress. While there is some degree of truth to this, many areas of Sciences, Health, and Medicine also face significant challenges to sustainable teaching and research.[3]
At the University of New England, for example, we are working to develop and strengthen a portfolio of HASS disciplines that has a long history of serving our region and the nation. The legislation that sets out the governing principles of UNE, Australia’s oldest regional university, states that a principal objective is: “the provision of courses of study or instruction across a range of fields, and the carrying out of research, to meet the needs of the community”.[4] UNE, in its strategic thinking, balances the needs of local and regional communities with those of our national constituency. Regional perspectives are vital to the understanding of Australia as a nation, and students from all areas clearly value this: a large percentage of UNE students today are living in major cities as opposed to the regions.
A broad range of HASS disciplines at UNE, such as Archaeology, Languages, Linguistics, Music, and Writing, have maintained a consistent trajectory of growth over the past 5 years. The impact of Covid-19 during 2020 also had some interesting outcomes, such as a sudden surge of interest in Philosophy. In challenging times, many people turn to areas of study that help them to understand our world better. Similarly, in 2021, as students and universities seek new opportunities in what we hope will eventually be a post-covid world, there are surprising shifts of interest occurring. We are seeing substantial year-on-year growth in both Music and Classics, for example.
Given the current concern for ‘job-ready graduates’, let’s not forget that Arts-degree graduates have equal or better employment prospects than Science graduates, and on average are earning more three years after graduation. Two thirds of ASX200 company CEOs have an Arts degree. The reality is that the study of HASS disciplines drives the national economy.[5]
In some areas, such as Modern Languages, we are seeing strong growth sustained as UNE provides support to students from urban universities that are phasing out or scaling back teaching in these areas. Japanese, for example has seen a large year-on-year increase in students in 2021. There are opportunities in this space for nationally significant partnerships between universities, and UNE currently has shared-teaching arrangements with several other universities in Australia and New Zealand. Over time, this will develop into more integrated co-delivery of specialist teaching and these partnerships will support collaborative research in areas of significance.
UNE has a legislated responsibility to ensure that remote and regional students have access to the range of fields of study that serve the needs of their communities. At the same time, regional universities bring crucially important perspectives to bear that are of national significance. A key part of our contribution to the nation is in ensuring that vital regional voices are heard, through both teaching and research outcomes. Around two thirds of Australia’s national export economy is regionally-based, across a broad range of industries from mining and agriculture to creative arts.[6] In some remote parts of Australia, creative industries represent the primary export.[7] Given the critical importance of regional communities and industries to the national economy, Australia cannot afford to have any education or research limited to big-city perspectives.
The practical reasons for the manager of a large agri-business based out of Inverell to be studying Indonesian will be best understood and supported by a lecturer based in a regional university. Similarly, imagine if you could only study demography or town planning in big-city universities ... how well would that serve regional Australia? It is for these reasons that place-based and personalised learning experiences are vital components of UNE’s current strategic plan.[8]
The solutions to the great problems of our time, whether economic, social, environmental, or health-related, will not be found by STEM disciplines alone. The old idea that HASS and STEM disciplines are somehow in competition, or antithetical, does not serve us well as we seek to solve future-facing problems. The ‘art’ of critically understanding humans and societies in order to build more resilient, innovative, and prosperous communities will be the foundation of the world that future generations inherit from us.
While some might fear that regional students in the future will only be able to study Humanities disciplines in cities, a great many people around the nation are working hard to ensure that this does not happen.
