That the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) felt it necessary to commission yet another report into the future of the humanities in the UK speaks volumes about the extent of concern….
The report is surely right to restate the important connections between secondary education, choice of subject in higher education, and the development of essential skills….
The Confederation of British Industry has long argued that linguistic skills and cultural awareness are essential to businesses, estimating that the lack of linguistically competent qualified graduates “loses the UK economy the equivalent 3.5 per cent of economic performance”. That is to say nothing of failure to develop the intercultural communication and diplomatic skills required if the government’s post-Brexit vision of “Global Britain” is to have any credibility on the world stage.
The traditional skills – clarity of thought, deep analysis, ability to navigate complexity, imagination – all remain valuable, both professionally and more widely. And we await the outcomes of the Department for Education’s £4 million pilot project to reintroduce Latin to 40 state schools from September 2022, recognising its ability to improve learning broadly, including in maths, and seeking to shift elitist conceptions of a classical education.
Yet the worlds of work and research are changing, and graduates require new digital competencies, as the new UK-Ireland digital humanities network has argued. Just as significant as numeracy, which is given particular emphasis in the Hepi report, may be an understanding of the algorithms that affect so many aspects of our daily lives, and that may be used to enable new findings in the humanities….
What is needed is a compelling vision for the humanities that resonates with the next generation and helps meet the challenges we all face. The impact case studies submitted to the latest research excellence framework, for instance, will no doubt provide evidence that humanities disciplines continue to reach out successfully to other disciplines and sectors, helping to create social and economic value. Humanities researchers and medics collaborate widely in pursuit of the well-being agenda, for instance, while STEM researchers call on their humanities colleagues to frame discussions around responsible research and innovation. These connections will continue to grow and shape the university curriculum.
For other posts on humanities and employment, see here.
H/t Rob Townsend
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