The University of Edinburgh has become my white whale in recent months, so it seems. 

Over the last two weeks, I have broken a number of exclusives relating to programme closures at the historic institution, cataloguing the fear, anger and confusion here in Scotland’s capital.  

That follows in-depth reporting on the internal power struggle between staff and student leaders and the university’s corporate management structure. 

Indeed, academics, students and alumni across the UK have reacted with horror to the news that 90 programmes, the majority of which relate to the arts and humanities, will no longer be taught in the Athens of the North.

Despite the strength of feeling, or perhaps because of it, the closures do not fall into a simple narrative. 

It is true that one-fifth of the programmes caught up in the cull did not have any students enrolled on them. It is also true that four-fifths did.

Edinburgh University will cut 90 programmes in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. (Image: Gordon Terris)

It is true that programmes in Celtic and Scottish Studies are being cut. It is also true that teaching provision will continue, and in fact, continues to thrive. 

It is true that New College is no longer offering Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Divinity programmes after hundreds of years of training ministers. It is also true that the Church of Scotland decided to centralise training in Glasgow, and that nearly all students on the programme belong to that denomination.

While I chalk up these complexities to the initial fog of war, the seriousness of the university’s decision should not be lost. 

Trade........

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