The Department of English, Theatre & Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, is a world-leading centre for the study of literature and culture, but is now threatened with major cuts. Birkbeck’s management has announced a major institutional restructure, proposing to cut more than 80 academic and over 50 administrative and professional services jobs across the College. In English alone 50% of academic staff are faced with redundancy.

These developments are unfolding as we prepare to celebrate Birkbeck’s 200th anniversary as a distinctive and radical institution of accessible higher education. This petition is written to highlight the case of English in a situation that threatens large parts of this unique university.

English research at Birkbeck is world-leading. It is ranked by the Times Higher 2nd in the UK, and 1st in London.  All staff are active teachers, delivering a cutting-edge curriculum. The department also has a thriving doctoral community, one of the biggest in English studies in the UK, and powerful links to cultural institutions and research communities in London, nationally and across the world.

Birkbeck English puts research excellence at the heart of accessible education; it should be at the heart of the university’s mission. The department plays a crucial role in widening participation in English studies; its student body is amongst the most diverse in the country, including many students who are mature students or the first in their families to earn a degree. Most are studying after or around the working day.

It is deeply worrying that even a top-ranked department such as Birkbeck English, Theatre & Creative Writing is now under threat. English studies can thrive if university leaders set it within a vision of what higher education is and communicate its value. Of the ten ‘top skills for 2025’ listed in the World Economic Forum’s ‘Future of Jobs Report’ 2020, eight derive from the arts, humanities and social sciences disciplines. English courses teach critical and nuanced thinking, creativity, communication expertise, and collaboration: these skills are needed more than ever in today’s fast-changing world.

English should, therefore, be essential to the future of Birkbeck. The university’s English staff teach and research foundational texts as well as new and emerging cultural forms, taking historically informed and pioneering approaches to global literature and culture from the Middle Ages to today. The department’s work cannot be cut away from Birkbeck’s arts and humanities curriculum - and particularly its sister subjects of creative writing and theatre studies - without causing damage to the wider institution. This work is fundamental to the Birkbeck mission.

As Birkbeck students, alumni, scholars, artists, public institutions and members of the public who believe in the value of research excellence and teaching for all, we express serious concern about the threat to Birkbeck English, Theatre & Creative Writing.

Readers of this petition are invited to:

• Sign this petition in solidarity to oppose these cuts and demand that Birkbeck management lets recent and on-going curriculum innovations settle before implementing decisions that will decimate the institution and therefore endanger its future.
• Circulate this petition on social media and with other interested parties to raise awareness.
• Write to their MPs and elected representatives to alert them to the threat these cuts and redundancies present to Birkbeck's future and to widening participation in higher education.
• Write to Birkbeck’s Vice-Chancellor David Latchman (vc@bbk.ac.uk) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Matt Innes (m.innes@bbk.ac.uk), outlining their serious concerns.