Studying history isn’t what it used to be

Is history in danger of becoming a thing of the past on campus? In recent weeks, Aston in Birmingham announced a consultation on plans to close its entire history department. Meanwhile, London South Bank has announced that its history course will not be recruiting students from this Autumn. 

The condemnation was swift. Former regius professor of history at Cambridge Richard J Evans and author of numerous books on the Third Reich, said that history was ‘more important than ever’, since it provides the skills to look critically at the evidence and to distinguish fact from fiction’ in age of fake news and populism. 

But as a history student myself, I’m not convinced a decline in the number of courses is such bad news. It’s clear to me history at university is increasingly disconnected with the modern world – and with the students being taught.

Since the 1990s, the impetus from governments – with Tony Blair leading the charge – has been to expand the number of universities and the number of students attending them.