The Arts and Humanities: Endangered Species?

A collection of seven-minute talks, in which eminent researchers from the arts and humanities explain both why their subjects matter, and how their future is threatened by current higher education reforms, is being released online. The short presentations were originally given at a conference, "The Arts and Humanities: Endangered Species?" at the University of Cambridge on 25 February. From today, each talk is being released via the University's YouTube Channel, enabling web users to find out for themselves exactly what was said. View the presentations Ten academics from five different English universities, representing subjects including English, history, philosophy, anthropology, theatre studies and modern languages, were invited to speak at the event, which was hosted by Cambridge's Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH). Each was allocated seven minutes to talk about why the arts and humanities matter and the cultural and social benefits that research and teaching in these fields at British universities bring. Under the current higher education reforms, teaching budgets across the arts and humanities will be cut and, in many cases, are likely to be compensated for using student fees. Funding for research may also be reduced in real terms.