The University of Sheffield has proposed a review of its faculty structure. The University is currently organised into 5 main faculties: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and Health.
However, the University plans to regroup these into three more efficient and ‘equally sized’ branches, claiming the development will aid the university’s long-term financial sustainability. The regrouping of faculties will now consist of: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences and finally the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, altogether comprising 20 individual schools.
By creating 3 larger organisational units, they plan to develop a more resilient approach to changes in student recruitment trends and research funding. Having fewer faculties is expected to facilitate the university’s ability to simplify staff workload and experience, as well as enabling students greater access to equipment and facilities. Whilst the 3 faculties will not be equal in number of schools or students, they plan to have more consistent staff numbers, total income and total expenditure.
Although there are some inconsistencies within some of the new faculties, such as the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences department, these gaps are expected to decrease over time and align to a greater degree than the current faculty structure allows.
The university claims that this restructuring will better support collaboration between departments, which is expected to be particularly beneficial for students on dual honours courses which span across multiple departments. For example, some students have expressed hope that the new structure will allow for departments to improve communication and reduce problems such as timetable clashes across their modules. Indeed, the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences will have the largest crossover of dual students, so combining the two departments is expected to significantly facilitate the university’s management of the two degrees in order to make student experience much more consistent.
Finally, the university website emphasises the fact that ‘the proposed faculty structure is not being introduced to save money’ and they make a point to say that staff cuts will be ‘modest’. Some humanities students are concerned that the new structure will make it easier for the university to cut funding and teaching staff in their departments. These concerns come amid nationwide defunding of the arts, with other Russell Group Universities, such as Nottingham, cutting whole Modern Foreign Language departments. After two rounds of strikes last year, many arts students are extremely concerned about any measures that could lead to more interruption.
However, students are reassured that there are no changes expected in academic staff and any staff cuts that are made will affect a limited number of management positions. These cuts will not be made until 2027-28 and staff will be offered alternative positions where possible. Therefore, very little impact will be noticed by students within their day to day studies.
If this faculty restructuring is of any concern to you, or you have any questions related to it, more information can be found on the university website: https://sheffield.ac.uk/industrial-action/students
