Danish students escape from the humanities
humanities
The number of humanities students could be halved in a few years, according to new calculations. Discussion of humanities subjects is pointed to as part of the reason.
Still fewer study humanities subjects in Denmark. And in 13-14 years, the number of students may at worst be halved. This is according to a forecast prepared by DM, which is a Danish trade union for researchers, according to DM’s trade journal Research forum.
An important reason for the decline is simply fewer applicants. Many believe this is connected to the negative publicity the humanities have received in the Danish public. Politicians, organizations and economists have claimed that the education programs are too work-oriented and economically profitable, writes Forskerforum.dk.
In a worst-case scenario, the number of students in humanities subjects will have shrunk to a third of what was the number of students in 2013. The forecast also has a less serious scenario, which does not fall as large.
Has moved study places out of town
Martin Ærbo Vesterbæk, who is chief economist at DM, believes that the Danish humanities will land somewhere between the two forecasts.
— Historically, the search has fallen a lot, and in recent years there have been many negative factors, such as sizing and negative publicity of the humanities subjects. A realistic prediction is probably that the decline will continue, but to a lesser extent, he says to the magazine.
Danish politicians have introduced several measures which have resulted in fewer students. Among other things, the politicians have decided to move study places out of the four largest cities, something that has particularly affected humanities subjects. A flat, annual budget cut in the years 2016 to 2019 has also hit the humanities hard.
Also a decline in Norway
— What is happening in Denmark is worrying. But much of this is politically driven, says dean Frode Helland at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo (UiO).
Humanities students have also decreased in Norway.
In 2019, Statistics Norway showed a decrease of 4.3 percent between the years 2000 and 2017. In the same period, there was a growth in all higher education of 49 percent.
Read more: The number of students in economics has doubled in 17 years, the humanities are losing
The humanities faculty at the University of Oslo had around 10 percent fewer students in autumn 2021 than in autumn 2017, according to figures from the database from DBH.
Dean Frode Helland is unsure what is the cause of their decline, but says:
— Some humanities majors are struggling with recruitment, but there is no crisis atmosphere.
— Thinks they manage with English
He mentions particularly failing recruitment in language subjects.
— And that is worrying. In the same way as it was concerned with failing recruitment for science a few years ago.
He finds it somewhat difficult to understand that students fail language subjects in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and global.
— But it is also part of a kind of international trend. It may have to do with the pressure from English, that more and more people think they can manage with English, which is not the case.
He says that the humanities students get jobs. It is also supported by a study that came out recently.
Read more: New research dispels the myth that humanists do not get jobs
— We need people who can speak German, French and Spanish – or Chinese and Japanese – and who can act as advisers for Norwegian businesses abroad.
May provide less research
Halving the number of students will have major financial consequences for the humanities faculties in Denmark. Fewer students provide lower basic grants. It can also have consequences for research, says dean Johnny Laursen at the art faculty at the University of Aarhus.
— After all, research is dependent on basic funds, and if the number of students decreases, the basis for employing researchers also decreases. Then you can also say that the humanities must become better at applying for external funding. But here the competition is not entirely fair, because the funds share to a much greater extent for scientific research, he tells Forskerforum.dk.