Economics: an elite subject for elite universities?

1. Economics: an elite subject for elite universities? An investigation into the changing nature of economics provision in the United Kingdom Higher Education sector James Johnston Contact: james.Johnston@uws.ac.uk

2. The rationale for the study • Concern over the withdrawal of economics programmes. • What these withdrawals tell us about the health of economics as a university subject. • And the implications for different parts of the HE system.

3. Research questions • What distinguishes retainers from withdrawers? • Is economics in danger of becoming an ‘elite’ subject confined to elite universities?

4. Framework for interpreting the current level of economics provision in the UK HE Sector (Table 1)

5. 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

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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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?

11. 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

12. Retention and impact on performance: withdrawers appear to differ from retainers Table 3 shows what is happening within the new university sector. In terms of performance. Withdrawers seem to do a little better than retainers in terms of some indicators of institutional performance. Is there a learning effect? 12

13. Table 3: New university retainers and withdrawers compared

14. 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

15. Table 4: Economics titles withdrawn between 2003-2012

16. Table 5: New University retainers and withdrawers (complete)

17. 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

18. 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

19. Contrasting experiences Retainers 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 • 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

20. Conclusions • ‘Old’ universities have been much less likely to withdraw the subject than ‘new’ universities. • 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. • There is an emergence of a geographical dimension to the provision of economics in the ‘new’ universities. • Our small survey has identified five contrasting features distinguishing retainers from withdrawers.