Economics: an elite subject for elite universities? An investigation into the changing nature of economics provision in the United Kingdom Higher Education.

Economics: an elite subject for elite universities?

An investigation into the changing nature of economics provision in the United Kingdom

Higher Education sector

James JohnstonContact: [email protected]

The rationale for the study

1. Concern over the withdrawal of economics programmes.

2. What these withdrawals tell us about the health of economics as a university subject.

3. And the implications for different parts of the HE system.

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Research questions

1.What distinguishes retainers from withdrawers?

2.Is economics in danger of becoming an ‘elite’ subject confined to elite universities?

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Offered

economics in

2012

Did not offer

economics in

2012

Did not offer

economics before

2012

Offered

economics before

2012 (Retainers)

Offered

economics before

2012

(Withdrawers)

Did not offer

economics before

2012

Framework for interpreting the current level of economics provision in the UK HE

Sector (Table 1)

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The current state of provision of economics programmes in the UK HE sector

What economics programmes do UK universities provide?

• Economics, Business Economics and Financial Economics were by far the most common titles on offer in 2012

• Sixty-six universities (55%) in our sample of 119 universities offered single Economics, Business Economics or Financial Economics

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Providing ONE of the three options Providing TWO of the three options Providing All three options1.Aberdeen 2.Aberystwyth 8.Bradford

3.Anglia Ruskin 12.Cardiff 15.Coventry

4.Bath 13.Central Lancashire* 30.Kingston

5.Bangor 16.Dundee 44.Plymouth*

6.Birmingham 17.Durham 59.Swansea

7.Bournemouth 18.East Anglia

9.Bristol 21.Essex

10.Brunel 22.Exeter

11.Cambridge 23.Glasgow

14.City 24.Greenwich*

19.East London* 26.Hertfordshire*

20.Edinburgh 27.Hull

21.Essex 29.Kent

25.Heriot-Watt 31.Lancaster

28.Keele 32.Leeds

36.London School of Economics 33.Leicester

37.Loughborough 34.Liverpool

38.Manchester 35.London Metropolitan*

41.Newcastle 39.Manchester Metropolitan*

42.Nottingham 40.Middlesex*

46.Queen Mary 43.Nottingham Trent*

49.Royal Holloway 45.Portsmouth*

51.Sheffield 47.Queen's – Belfast

52.Sheffield Hallam 48.Reading

53.SOAS 50.St Andrews

54.Southampton 57.Surrey

55.Stirling 60.Ulster

56.Strathclyde 62.UWIC

58.Sussex

61.University College London

63.Warwick

64.West of England, Bristol

65. Westminster

66.York

Table 2: Economics provision (‘new’ and ‘old’ universities)

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Points of interest• In northern parts of the United Kingdom, such as

Scotland, economics exit titles of any sort appear to have been almost entirely removed from the prospectuses of the new university sector

• The best predictor of whether a university offers an economics title is almost certainly whether it is ‘old’ or ‘new’

Paradoxically:

• Three new universities - Coventry, Kingston and Plymouth- offer single honours in Economics, Business Economics and Financial Economics; while only two of the ‘old’ universities offered all three titles

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The link between the Research Assessment Exercise and the provision of economics

programmes• Of the sixty-six universities identified by us as

offering an economics programme, only 33 (50%) actually had an economics entry in the 2008 RAE

• In contrast, only three of the eighteen new universities which were identified as offering an Economics degree in 2012 - Kingston, London and Manchester Metropolitan - had an economics entry in the 2008 RAE

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The link between the Research Assessment Exercise and the provision of economics

programmes• When compared to the economics and econometrics

submissions, it is noteworthy that of the 89 entries in the Business and Management UoA in the 2008 RAE, 37 (42%) were new universities

• Similarly, of the fourteen submissions in the Accounting and Finance UoA in 2008, 6 (43%) were new universities

• Both of these proportions are high relative to the Economics and Econometrics UoA where only three of the thirty-five submissions (9%) were from new universities

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Consequences: intended or unintended?• Given the incentive structure universities face,

this change in priorities should not come as a surprise to economists

• It is an illustration of how national research evaluations have influenced UK universities

Where is this trend leading us?

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University alliances and economic provision

• Only two of the Russell Group and the 1994 group did NOT offer economics programmes

• Of the “University Alliance” group, 11 out of 23 members offered economic programmes

• Only 8 of the 27 members of the “million plus” group of universities offered economics programmes

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Retention and impact on performance: withdrawers appear to differ from

retainers1. Table 3 shows what is happening within the

new university sector. In terms of performance.

2. Withdrawers seem to do a little better than retainers in terms of some indicators of institutional performance.

Is there a learning effect?

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Table 3: New university retainers and withdrawers compared

Indicator of performanceRetainers[1] Withdrawers[2]

Average Entry Tariff 234 245

Average Percentage with a job

after 6 months

55 60

Average Research Assessment

Rating – Business and

Management[3]

1.89 2.00

Average Guardian League

Table Position

82 80

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Details of the geographic split in the provision of economics programmes since

2003• Table 4 shows 16 universities identified as

withdrawing at least one economics title

• While Table 5 shows ‘new’ university retainers and withdrawers

• ‘Old’ universities (until now) seem to be largely immune from the withdrawal of economics titles

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Table 4: Economics titles withdrawn between 2003-2012

University Economics Business

Economics

Financial

Economics

1.University of Abertay 2007

2.University of the West of England** 2007 *

3.University of Central England 2003

4.University of East London** 2007 2006

5.University of Glamorgan 2005

6.Glasgow Caledonian University 2007

7.University of Liverpool** 2007

8.Liverpool John Moores University 2009

9.Edinburgh Napier University 2008

10.Northumbria University 2005 2004

11.Nottingham Trent University** 2006

12.Oxford Brookes University 2009

13.University of the West of Scotland 2011

14.Salford University 2009 2009

15.Staffordshire University 2004

16.Teeside University 2004 200515

Table 5: New University retainers and withdrawers (complete)Retainers Complete Withdrawers

1.Anglia Ruskin 1.University of Abertay

2.Bournemouth 2.University of Central England

3.Central Lancashire 3.University of Glamorgan

4.Coventry 4. Glasgow Caledonian University

5.East London 5.Liverpool John Moores University

6.Greenwich 6.Edinburgh Napier University

7.Hertfordshire 7.Northumbria University

8.Kingston 8.Oxford Brookes University

9.London Metropolitan 9.University of the West of Scotland

10.Manchester Metropolitan 10.Salford University

11.Middlesex 11.Staffordshire University

12.Nottingham Trent 12.Teeside University

13.Plymouth

14.Portsmouth

15.Sheffield Hallam

16.UWIC

17.West of England, Bristol

18. Westminster16

Geographic impact of the withdrawal decision

• In addition, there seems to be a distinct north-south divide

• There is no ‘new’ university economics provision above a line from Preston to Sheffield

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The four interviews

• All four were ‘new’ universities• Two withdrawers and two retainers• The two withdrawers were in the north, the

two retainers were in the south • Anonymity guaranteed• Informal interviews each lasting about 2 hours

at or near the institutions

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Contrasting experiences

Retainers• Demand for economics

programmes had remained healthy

• Economics had always been part of the Business School

• Economics was strongly supported by senior management

• Economists were very active in School/Faculty business

• Economists brought in significant income from external engagement

Withdrawers• The demand for economics

programmes had fallen considerably over time

• Economics was once a separate section/department

• Economics lacked support from senior management

• Economists were not very active in School/Faculty business

• Economists were less actively engaged in external income generation

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Conclusions1. ‘Old’ universities have been much less likely to withdraw the

subject than ‘new’ universities.2. Within the ‘new’ university sector, there is a suggestion in

the UCAS data that universities may be responding to the incentives in league tables by altering their suite of programmes to maximise league table positions and that this has led some to remove economics.

3. There is an emergence of a geographical dimension to the provision of economics in the ‘new’ universities.

4. Our small survey has identified five contrasting features distinguishing retainers from withdrawers.

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