Birmingham City University has closed its Black Studies and Global Justice MA course, less than a year after it started, due to a shortage of applicants.
In a statement shared with UnHerd, the University claimed that the course had been withdrawn “due to low demand”. There are eight students currently enrolled for this year’s intake. The statement added that “a consultation process is underway with affected staff to discuss the impact of the course closures and explore reasonable options to minimize roles at risk.”
Responding to the closure, over 150 figures, including academics, MPs and journalists, signed a petition in protest at the decision, suggesting that University staff who were running the course had been “blindsided”.
This petition also claims that course leaders “were given no indication that the MA was in jeopardy” and that staff were now “at potential risk of compulsory redundancy”.
The course is headed by the author and academic Kehinde Andrews, who gained prominence for calling Winston Churchill a “eugenicist” on Good Morning Britain and comparing the former British prime minister to Adolf Hitler, suggesting the two “would probably have agreed on many things when it comes to race”.
In 2021, Andrews claimed that Birmingham City University was “institutionally racist” for failing to address complaints of racism against a colleague, despite the University refuting the allegations. In an article in Politico, Andrews also claimed that the late Queen Elizabeth II was “the number one symbol of white supremacy”, shortly after her death.
Speaking to the Guardian about the BCU decision, Andrews suggested that there had been “zero consultation with staff or students” over the decision and claimed that the decision was about “erasure” rather than low uptake.
According to the course website — which has now been taken down — the degree is designed to give students the skills to “address racial, social, and economic inequalities affecting Black communities”. Modules included Intersectional Identities and Inequalities, Insights into Black Psychology and Global Health Issues, and Black Diaspora History.
In 2024, BCU also closed the undergraduate Black Studies course due to low recruitment numbers, but Andrews suggested at the time that it was a sign black scholarship was being “wiped out”. This was the first course to be taught on the discipline of Black Studies when it was introduced in 2017. In the years since, other universities have followed in offering degrees in Black Studies, including the University of Nottingham, Goldsmiths, University of London and the University of West London.