{"id":959650,"date":"2026-05-14T16:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/959650\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:28:15","slug":"birmingham-city-university-to-close-black-studies-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/959650\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham City University to close Black Studies course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birmingham City University has closed<\/a> its Black Studies and Global Justice MA course, less than a year after it started, due to a shortage of applicants.<\/p>\n

In a statement shared with UnHerd, the University claimed that the course had been withdrawn \u201cdue to low demand\u201d. There are eight students currently enrolled for this year\u2019s intake. The statement added that \u201ca consultation process is underway with affected staff to discuss the impact of the course closures and explore reasonable options to minimize roles at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the closure, over 150 figures, including academics, MPs and journalists, signed a petition<\/a> in protest at the decision, suggesting that University staff who were running the course had been \u201cblindsided\u201d.<\/p>\n

This petition also claims that course leaders \u201cwere given no indication that the MA was in jeopardy\u201d and that staff were now \u201cat potential risk of compulsory redundancy\u201d.<\/p>\n

The course is headed by the author and academic Kehinde Andrews, who gained prominence for calling<\/a> Winston Churchill a \u201ceugenicist\u201d on Good Morning Britain and comparing the former British prime minister to Adolf Hitler, suggesting the two \u201cwould probably have agreed on many things when it comes to race\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Andrews claimed<\/a> that Birmingham City University was \u201cinstitutionally racist\u201d for failing to address complaints of racism against a colleague, despite the University refuting the allegations. In an article in Politico, Andrews also claimed<\/a> that the late Queen Elizabeth II was \u201cthe number one symbol of white supremacy\u201d, shortly after her death.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Guardian<\/a> about the BCU decision, Andrews suggested that there had been \u201czero consultation with staff or students\u201d over the decision and claimed that the decision was about \u201cerasure\u201d rather than low uptake.<\/p>\n

According to the course website<\/a> \u2014 which has now been taken down \u2014 the degree is designed to give students the skills to \u201caddress racial, social, and economic inequalities affecting Black communities\u201d. Modules included Intersectional Identities and Inequalities, Insights into Black Psychology and Global Health Issues, and Black Diaspora History.<\/p>\n

In 2024, BCU also closed the undergraduate Black Studies course due to low<\/a> recruitment numbers, but Andrews suggested<\/a> at the time that it was a sign black scholarship was being \u201cwiped out\u201d. This was the first course<\/a> 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<\/a>, Goldsmiths, University of London<\/a> and the University of West London<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City University has closed its Black Studies and Global Justice MA course, less than a year after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,268096,748,268097,393,4884,18109,16,2970,15,5178],"class_list":{"0":"post-959650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-black-studies","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-critical-race-theory","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-higher-education","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-uncategorized","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-university"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116573877619702561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}