An Open Letter from Business Leaders & Employers
We are business leaders and employers of Exeter and the South West, signing in our own names to make the case for strong Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter — and to urge careful thought before the proposed cuts go ahead.
Our position
We believe that strong Humanities and Social Sciences are part of what makes this region prosper, and we ask the University of Exeter to weigh that fully before proceeding with the proposed cuts.
The University is one of the largest engines of prosperity in Exeter and, through its Penryn Campus, in Cornwall too. Its students are customers, tenants, and the lifeblood of the shops, cafés, venues and services that make these communities what they are — and every student supports jobs well beyond the campus.
Reducing Humanities and Social Sciences staff at the scale proposed risks the student experience and, over time, recruitment and retention. Fewer students, and a diminished offer, means real consequences for the trade we all depend on — in Exeter and in Penryn alike.
Humanities and Social Sciences graduates bring exactly what employers need: critical thinking, research, communication, cultural insight, and an understanding of people, societies and ideas. Local firms, schools, agencies and cultural organisations draw directly on this talent.
To narrow what the University teaches is to narrow the pipeline of skilled people that our businesses, and this region, depend on.
The University describes this as a limited and specific change, and notes that no departments are closing. Yet well over 500 staff are at risk, the large majority of them in Humanities and Social Sciences, with some subjects facing half their teaching staff reduced. A department can keep its name while losing much of the teaching strength that gives it value.
As people who run businesses, we simply ask that the case for cuts of this scale be made plainly and publicly, and that there is genuine consultation, before anything irreversible is done.
Strong Humanities and Social Sciences are not a cost to be trimmed — they are part of what makes Exeter, and Penryn, places worth studying, working, and doing business in. Our specific asks are set out below.
By the University's own figures, it is one of Exeter's largest economic engines — a shared asset worth protecting as these decisions are made.
9,750
jobs supported in Exeter — about 9% of all jobs in the city, making the University its second-largest employer.
£816m
of economic output generated for the city of Exeter, and £509m in gross value added.
£148.8m
in value added from student spending alone, supporting a further 2,810 local jobs.
Source: University of Exeter economic impact study, Oxford Economics · Read the report
Exeter's own published figures show an institution in good financial health — not one that obviously needs to cut on this scale.
In 2024–25 it reported income of around £680 million that covered its spending, and in recent years has generated the third-largest cash flow from operations of any UK university analysed by Times Higher Education.
An open letter to the Vice-Chancellor & the Council of the University of Exeter
We are not asking the University to manage its finances less carefully. We are asking it not to dismantle something irreplaceable before the case has been made.
Use voluntary measures and ordinary staff turnover, and commit in writing that no member of staff in these disciplines will be forced out.
Set out the deficit, the modelling, and the alternatives considered, so the necessity of cuts on this scale can be judged independently rather than simply asserted.
The wider economic impact on Exeter, Cornwall and the South West — including the communities around the Penryn Campus — should be formally weighed, with the business community given a seat at the table, before any decision is finalised.
This letter is signed by business leaders and employers as individuals. Once you sign, your name, title and company affiliation will be listed on the letter and our campaign website, showing your support.
You may also add a short line of your own, which we may publish alongside your name.
You will be listed in a personal capacity, with business affiliations used for identification purposes only.
You may withdraw your name at any time by contacting biz4humanities@gmail.com.
Your email is used only to verify your sign-on and is never published. Each entry is reviewed before it appears.
Sign in your own name
The Signatories