The number of students pursuing English degrees in the United Kingdom has declined significantly in recent years, as more teenagers opt for degrees perceived to offer better career prospects.
Decline in English Degree Enrollment
Across UK universities, undergraduate enrollment in all types of English degrees decreased by 19 percent, from 49,150 in 2019-20 to 40,000 in 2023-24. This figure includes students studying single honors English degrees, as well as joint honors programs like English and philosophy, and linguistics and creative writing.
Graduates with university degrees in the UK leave with an average debt of £53,000. In a competitive job market, many students are choosing degrees with more direct career pathways, such as economics, business, maths, engineering, and medicine. Government data indicates that an engineering graduate earns an average of £20,000 more than an English graduate – £54,800 compared with £34,300 – ten years after completing their studies.
An English emeritus professor expressed “despair” that “a subject I considered as important as a religion is now apparently failing the marketability test.”
University-Specific Declines
Queen Mary University of London experienced a 31 percent drop in undergraduate students studying English subjects between 2020-21 and 2023-24, falling from 785 to 545. Similar declines were observed at other institutions, including a 27 percent decrease at Birmingham University, 21 percent at Cardiff, and 19 percent at Nottingham, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Meanwhile, interest in fields like artificial intelligence is rising, with a 400 percent increase in students studying the subject at UK universities over the past 12 years, according to HESA.
Joanna Burton, head of policy for higher education at the Russell Group of 24 leading universities, stated that a decline in A-level English enrollment has contributed to the decrease in degree numbers. This summer, 112,000 students took maths A-levels, compared to 58,000 who took English.
The decline in pupils studying English A-level, particularly among boys, has been attributed to factors ranging from an outdated curriculum to the impact of screens on reading for pleasure.
The government plans to reform GCSE English, following a recent curriculum review, with a focus on oracy and more modern and diverse texts.
Outside the Russell Group universities, the decline in English students was often even more pronounced. Bournemouth University saw a 44 percent decrease in students studying English degrees over the same period, rising to 58 percent when including the closure of its creative writing degree. At Oxford Brookes, enrollment fell by 59 percent between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
Professor Robert Eaglestone of the English Association anticipates that the planned GCSE reform will “rekindle wider enthusiasm for the subject.”
The World Economic Forum predicts that the fastest-growing jobs by 2030 will be in fields such as big data, fintech, artificial intelligence, software development, and renewable energy.
The Russell Group notes that English and humanities students are well-positioned for these growing sectors. Their analysis found that 85 percent of non-science graduates from top universities enter careers in the government’s eight priority sectors, slightly below the 91 percent of STEM graduates at equivalent universities.
Burton, at the Russell Group, emphasized that “Arts and humanities subjects remain popular and equip students with critical thinking, communication and creativity — skills employers consistently demand.” She added that English literature graduates “not only thrive in the creative industries and professional services, but also progress into growth sectors like digital technologies and defence.”
While the number of students studying English fell at 88 universities between 2020-21 and 2023-24, it rose at 36 universities, including York and University College London.
York University attributes its success to offering a diverse range of modules within its English bachelor’s degrees, including topics like literature and ecology, pandemics, and modernism’s queer spaces. Professor Jennie Batchelor, head of English at York, stated, “In an era where the authentic written word is under threat, our courses are really popular. We prove English isn’t just about reading the past — it’s about understanding the power of words and narratives in the present and future and giving our students the skills to successfully navigate the world once they have graduated.”
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