Thanks so much to Hugh and Umberto. Big shout out to all Sheffield archaeology students, you're a bunch of legends. Sign the petition to save Sheffield archaeology. www.change.org/p/university-of-sheffield-save-sheffield-s-archaeology-department?redirect=false More Resources to help: sites.google.com/view/save-sheffield-archaeology/home Petition to save Chester: (note I misspoke, Chester only wants to make substantial cuts to the department not close it entirely. Still absolute bollocks, please sign the petition). docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7BCF0nXutFxKrfNDVacxUd-aZW8TZh6FhBBSlIW0UKLlrSg/viewform
I just finished my 2nd year at University of Sheffield and am so disappointed by my experience this past year. I know weve been in the pandemic but the department has really let students down this year.
@@connorcurtis5957 I'm sorry our experiences were so different. As I said, when I went it was a huge department, lots of staff, lots of opportunities. It's a shame, for sure.
Big shout sharing this Stefan- just graduated with a masters in engineering but have always loved the channel & have friends on / recently graduating from the course. Hopefully all the press about this means the dept will pull through!
I applied to Sheffield but went to Liverpool, nevertheless it looked an excellent department and getting rid of it would be nothing short of moronic. Thank you for supporting Chester as well, my local Uni.
here in the States much of the funding for private universities is provided by wealthy ex jocks (sports enthusiasts) who want THEIR university to have winning teams, vicariously reliving their "glory days". plus, televised college sports rake in the money. education isn't high in most jocks' priorities.
@@disprogreavette8545 i don't mind athletics. phys ed is healthy. no one denies that. healthy body, healthy mind and all. sad fact is that jocks (persons who devote their existence to sports, particularly blood sports) and the people who worship at the alter of their favorite teams tend to be dumber than bags of rocks.
@@jessebianchi2631 I'm not American and not a follower of sports in general (I am a runner though). I've just noticed over the years when I speak with ones visiting my country they seem embarrassed by the hardcore fan or former high school star athlete who lives in the past.
As a former academic in Britain I can only say the following: the cancerous growth of ineffectual HR departments and their becoming the 'front end' of British universities has led to this. For the last 2 decades the bureaucracy has been expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy, completely draining the blood from what universities are actually about, namely students and academics. For the cost of one parasitic health and safety officer, departmental accountant or senior acquisitions manager you could comfortably employ any number of characteristically frugal researchers or fund the research of those already in place.
Yes, has been the same in Australia for decades. Universities are not for academics, they are for administrators and their goal is not education, but siphoning off grant dollars from government and industry. If only Archaeology could patent its findings and sell them to drug companies, they would do fine.
This is happening in Australia too, in molecular science in my experience. Our department was halved, our working space and labs were halved and in its place a new HR department was put in.
Petition signed. Educators should have a say in the future their own departments. Mad respect to you for using your platform to keep quality education accessible
it was a real pleasure talking to Stefan; I so much enjoyed his memories of Sheffield - and how refreshing is to talk to people who really have a genuine desire to understand what is going on! #SaveSheffieldArchaeology
I work at Sheff Uni as a research tech in an evolutionary microbiology lab. I felt sickened when I heard the news. Academics - especially post-docs - often get treated like absolute shite by the University, pension cuts, no job security, etc, but shutting down an entire department is something else.
The same is happening in my field of ecology and environmental science. Higher education should be subsidized, but today universities are seen as profit-driven businesses. That will end up destroying them. Universities must produce knowledge, not profit!
Indeed. I drive past my old university (Essex) occasionally and am always depressed by how commercially orientated it is nowadays. It is sad how Higher Education in the UK has been treated by successive administrations, Conservative and Labour, over the last three decades.
There was a point in history when a small opaque group of people tried to silence research into history and oh yes, we can't talk about them for similar reasons! Fight this nonsense which is happening everywhere. HISTORY IS HUMANITY. What deprives one of us deprives all of us. Bless Sheffield University and Stefan Milo. Signed the petition and hope that more people do as well. Thank you Stefan for all of your wonderful videos, they've helped me expand interest at my workplace into ancient history and the ways prehistoric man lived. It makes me so happy to hear my coworkers say that they watched your videos or signed up to a podcast about similar subjects.
Thank you for raising this! As a student at Sheffield speaking to people in both the archaeology and the languages departments (which as you mention has also been gutted- in this case a complete de-specialisation of the course which will affect current 1st, 2nd years and those who have already signed up to start in september) it's very clear that it's taking a huge toll on students. Watching how the management have so easily destroyed two departments against the wishes of both staff and students so easily makes me worry which departments are next - I have no faith in the uni higher-ups not to do this to more departments. I hope the archaeology department can be saved, but having seen the way management have treated languages, I'm feeling rather pessimistic. Still got to keep fighting though.
As a alumni of Sheffield University it cuts hard that the archaeology department is closing Not at all impressed by the decision and so sorry for everyone associated with the department 😥
I don't know anything about the background to this... however it looks related to other politically motivated things that I see going on. "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." Could it be that people who want to control the future find it easier to rewrite the past if there aren't a load of knowledgeable archaeologists and historians about to contradict them ?
It would be nice if it was that simple. The funding of Higher Education in the UK has undergone a seismic shift over the last three decades. I went to university as a mature (theoretically) student in 1994. I received a grant and I even received the additional £1k per annum that was in place to encourage people like myself into universities. That was the last 'intake' which received that money. Most of us took out the student loans because the terms were good for mature students and we only had to pay for our living costs, not the cost of the course. But even then the senior academics were lamenting how much more difficult it was becoming to access funds for research. What has basically happened in the UK is that successive administrations have inflated the the university base but cut the amount of money they are prepared to give it. This forces universities to be more commercial and focus on core subjects rather than allowing students a broad range of choice. My old university (Essex) is a radically different place now compared to when I was there and I wince every time I drive past because it is so much more focussed on business.
@@foxhound963 I think the idea that the people that control the University of Sheffield are trying to rewrite history is conspiratorial nonsense on par with people that watch this channel and believe Atlantis exist.
The university could have lots of students from US, Canada and Australia if it wanted them. The opportunities to dig at sites of all different times sounds great. Why in the world would any British university scale back its Archeology department? That's like the University of Kansas getting rid of its tornado studies.
I am a retired Canadian electrical engineer and I definitely have heard of the past reputation of the archeology department. I worked with a few graduates from there as well. I absolutely would have loved to take classes there. I did graduate studies in Scotland. Different UK universities did presentations here in Calgary Alberta Canada, and I was impressed enough with the recruitment program that I did my MBA program in the UK at Herriot-Watt in Edinburgh. Why is it that Heriot-Watt could recruit so many students here in Calgary and other cities in Canada, and Shefield cannot do so? Cheers from Canada.
The you tube channel Archeosoup has devoted 3 discussions of this, including a portion of the students' meeting with the Vice Provost. He has posted links to further information. I live in Georgia, US, and thus have no contact except what I see online. I am horrified by the national government's shortsigthedness and anti-education vibes. Having just experienced that attitude in our government, I hope that wisdom strikes.
This happened across several faculties in Australia. Universities in Australia are imploding and great academics are finding work elsewhere. I feel very sorry for young people. Teenager are also affected by this because the effects will last for many years
As archaeologists one can look at this from a historical perspective: it’s like living through the Fall of Rome. Ineffectual army, decreasing life-expectancy, collapsing services, potholes in the roads, corrupt government, pandemics, migration, economic, educational and artistic decline…
I'm from Sheffield. Been living in Russia for quite a while. Stumbled across your channel and have been watching your vids (I'm an amateur enthusiast of anthropology and archeology). Scrolling through your page and I find out that you studied in my home town! Spot on!
After enjoying this channel for many months, I have started to put what I've learned into practice. I began speaking into a spoon, I sound far more intelligent now. Thank you for the lesson.
I feel exactly the same about what has happened to the University of Liverpool Medical School. When I started -- in 1974 -- it was rated one of the Top 5 medical schools in the country (along with Edinburgh, Cambridge, Barts, Oxford). Now ... it is rated dead LAST of 42! Medical schools that have existed less than a few years are rated higher. Liverpool University is the original "Redbrick" -- named for the (then) huge Victoria Building, which housed the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine and which is built of beautiful Victorian red bricks. I agree that the vast expansion of beaurocracy is to blame.
I’m an engineering student at Sheffield and seeing the archeology department shutting down slowly is hard to see can’t imagine seeing the engineering department shutting down it needs saving
Yeah they were and the staff that are left still do great work. Hugh has done a lot of research on Anglo Saxon time period. It’s such a shame that the management of the university made decisions to cut and now potentially close the department. Sign the petition though!
@@swirvinbirds1971 Racist. Absolutely, incurably rooted in whiteness and racism. www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/professor-michael-wood-anglo-saxon-name-debate-is-term-racist/
@@arlingtonhynes more alt-right nonsense it seems. When researchers and educators today talk about the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon England’, they aren’t discussing a ‘racial’ group. The terms don’t even encapsulate one thing, but rather seven centuries of change and very different kingdoms and communities, from Kent to Cumbria, from East Anglia to the Welsh borders. End of story. Go race bait elsewhere thanks.
As a retired US high school teacher I am of the opinion that excellence in education rests on the expertise of the teacher. Support the teacher, you will get better educated students. Clearly that’s not the general trend here. Nor there, evidently. So sad to learn of this demise.
I really hope that public pressure and exposing what is going on behind closed doors can bring about a change within the university's overall plans. Good luck.
I did my MA at USheff... It was an incredible experience on every level, and opened up enormous opportunities for me. The idea that one of the most prestigious and highly-rated departments of archaeology should be ending for goodness-knows-what ideological reason is extremely disheartening. The idea that students who will be/are being robbed of the knowledge, experience, and opportunity that they in good faith applied for is both shocking and shameful.
I am Canadian living in Calgary Alberta and I have met a number of Shefield graduates in my engineering and computer science career. I have heard about a number of your universities projects and programs. It is truly a waste and a disastrous situation for the university and local community. It was truly telling of the situation in regards to the form letter responsive regardless of position in the communities and government. Publicising this situation is very important to everyone. I see the universities actions reflecting and reacting to a worldwide situation of anti-education and anti-science especially. This is happening here in Canada as well. I am retired now, but both of my children are studying engineering as I did, this anti-education & anti-science paranoia will effect them and everyone else in this world, so I am extremely concerned about this ongoing problem. Do take care. Cheers from Canada.
Archaeology would have been what I would study if I had chosen by interest instead of a career, however, I absolutely hate my university, my course, and lecturers. Seeing how u have graduated for over a decade and still cared so much about the department and the course is truly astonishing. Sadly after this year, it will be history itself.
It's a problem in the Netherlands too, all universities I know of are gutting their Humanities faculties, language, history, archaeology etc. A damn shame :(
I signed the petition, I’m disgusted at this mindless gutting of education. I really hope we can make a difference here. It sounds like a great archeology department.
My parents both went to Sheffield in the 80s, although they did science and engineering, but it sounds like it was good back then. My sister currently studies history at Leicester and she tells me they have all kinds of troubles with the management there, including a load of redundancies.
Aye up knew I'd seen Thee somewhere before. 2007 - 2010 Mixed in student circles regularly & volunteered on occasion to help archaeologists scouring the Whirlow fields for flints. Never forget a face.
@@StefanMilo Řip? I think the legend is that it was on that hill where the Slavs first arrived in Czechia (updated version of the story), looked down on the land and decided to settle.
I'd not be surprised if some students sued. There is a contract of sorts, both expressed and implied, when you start your education, that you should be able to finish your degree within a certain time period. The University enriched itself based on this understanding. So at most, some of these students might have a case for the return of some of their fees and tuition. Other students might have a case for the costs of resituating at another University, not to mention the psychological harm and other eventualities. The university does not seem to be negotiating in good faith and as employers they may run into issues where the professors might sue under the local labor laws.
I am Canadian and in my youth dreamed if becoming an archaeologist. It doesn't make sense to me that this is happening as the advancement of technologies has opened this science to entirely new possibilities! Petitions are signed!! Keep fighting Gents!
I seriously considered going abroad to study in Sheffield when I went back to school a couple of years ago. It seemed like a great program and ultimately with the uncertainty of Brexit I chose something closer to home. Petition signed.
I think that your channel is proof that the defunding of universities is inevitable. You are actually giving us opportunities that weren't there when you studied. It's just that traditions are being replaced, and particularly institutions. Ironically this is something anthropologists should know about. Keep up the good work!
I appreciate you guys, you seem to be genuinely interested in providing a good education to a wide variety of students. If you did not give guys like Stefan a chance, he would be working at the car wash right now and we would not have the benefits of his honest insights on many scientific subjects! I always look forward to Stefan's epic productions!
Stefan, I see you currently have 103K subscribers. Although I don't have a degree in Archaeology, I watch you because I have an interest in Archeology and you make it interesting and fun to watch. So, your Sheffield education has had a very significant impact on those who feel as I do and many others as well. I don't really know why the University has made this decision but it must in part be related to funding, possible a lack of understanding what the program has achieved and perhaps a change in the educational environment. Some folks want to change the reality of history and change how it is written. As a consequence, it is better for them that certain programs be eliminated. Archeology is history. It helps us define the past and better understand the future. I am sure you'll continue to do what you can. As we all should. Thanks and thanks to Sheffield for having helped to make you what you are.
The UK university system - in its entirety -, not just archeology, has been in decline since the early to mid 90s. This was when it was decided to phase out student grants (in the former most general sense), a plan begun under John Major, but completed under Tony Blair. It was not this policy per se or alone which caused the decline but what it was masking and facilitating. It marked a switch from university funding based upon the academic standing and research output of a university through its various departments to one of funding based purely on the numbers of undergraduates it could cram into its buildings. This could not be achieved while high academic standards restricted the undergraduate intake. Why was the large intake desirable? Almost certainly not to better educate larger numbers of the public. Almost certainly to keep a larger number of people off the unemployment figures for three to four years. Plus, debt, student or otherwise, is a great way to subdue a willful and demanding public. My recent academic friends and colleagues in the uni sector referred to the undergrads as "the cash cows". This was only jokingly of course, but it was a gallows humour. Universities were originally an academic research training ground - those which did best continued in that employ, but even those less strong in their academic achievements still served that purpose as they often went into teaching in schools. The universities transitioned from research institutions to paper mills pumping out qualifications which are demanded by employers for jobs which do not require them. In lock step with university decline we also had in schools the grade erosion in GCSEs and A Levels from the early 90s onwards ("My qualification goes up to 11!") a paper thin ruse to make people think they are doing better and better than the generations before, while in reality learning less and less. Such a decline, with such history and momentum, is hard to reverse.
New to your channel and just saw this vid. I'm sorry that Sheffield University's Department of Archaeology shall cease to be a stand-alone administrative unit as of September 2024. Awful.
I applied for Archaeology and History for September. Due to change this change to just History. I'm happy to be part of Sheffield University it is just a shame we miss out on the opportunity to expand knowledge
its closing right now september 2024, sad time we are living, but because of the support the staf was not terminated but transfers in other departements. no more undergrad in archaeology tho so when the staff finish their carrear its over
I am a student currently studying biochemistry at the university of Sheffield. There’s some big disturbing changes happening to the university in general. It’s worrying
Sadly UK uni administrators have for decades accepted government drives to commodify higher education, rather than unite with staff and students to defend their institutions. A total betrayal of their responsibilities.
Please don't blame all administrators. This is a senior management issue (many of whom are academics) and a lot of administrators have worked hard to support and help departments, and point out issues to management. The administrators in the Arch. dept have also been hit by this decision and I personally would have been lost without those guys during my time there.
Another uni adminstrator here. Please check your facts, just like in Health and Primary/Secondary Education, this is due to senior/executive managers. Administrators ARE the staff and we are constantly fighting senior management to do the best for students.
@@andybeans5790 I'm an academic that was also an administrator for 7 years and it really breaks my heart the misunderstanding about what administrators do, with a general lack of respect for their role and work.
Stefan, I totally love your eye on life (and on ex-lives). I’m a Latin crank who glows vesuvian when an American university considers dumping its Greco-Latin or Classicist or Archeology or Antiquity curricula. And given the competition for students’ attention-Facebook, video games, email & texting with appalling poverty of expression and orthography-there’s no convincing alternative to education without Cicero, unless Oblivion of The Demiliterate is a legitimate field of scholarship..
This sounds really similar to what a lot of American universities have been doing. WVU Almost completely shut down their anthropology department until they had a wave of student interest. Wishing you all the best and I hope everything pans out well!
As a recent graduate from the University of Melbourne, I've seen a steady decline in the quality of the university in such a short space of time - when the pandemic hit, the university used it as an excuse to 'restructure' and fire a huge number of staff despite having no large losses, with degrees still costing the same amount. The University takes no advice from the academics and support staff that keep the place running, and it costs everyone.
I was so proud to be admitted to Sheffield four years ago to do an MA in Landscape Archaeology, based on the fantastic reputation it had. I was quickly disabused of this view - not of the Department, but of the organisational shambles that was the management of the University. Every aspect of registering, paying fees, accessing services was problematic. Its a good job they were not in charge of drinking events in breweries. Shortly after, I learned of the planned demise of the Department. This has now come to pass despite all of the protests. It had nothing to do with academic excellence and everything to do with a misguided desire to maximise income which could then be spent on huge salaries for senior management and prestige projects.
It’s a great shame. Universities all over Europe are going through the same struggle. Terrible oversight, bad management and lack of legitimate feeding into national heritage work. A sad state of affairs when something isn’t considered a profit making endeavour is left to the wayside.
Good luck with your campaign to oppose this shutdown. I'm not an archaeologist, in fact I'm not even British - I'm an Australian engineer - but I find this really depressing and upsetting.
The cynic in me speculates. Archaeology is often the bane of development, one wonders if this is the impetus? Or if the desire is to replace a self-sustaining department with one that generates more revenue.
I have been binging some of Stefan's videos. What is the meaning behind the plastic spoon attached to every mic he uses? Is this just an OCD thing he has?
I love your content. I love archaeology. I even watch reruns of TimeTeam on youtube ffs. I am sorry to hear about what is happening at Sheffield University. The archaeology department at my alma mater had been merged with sociology and only had 1 full-time archaeology prof (who was a delight obviously). Archaeology is a powerful subject pulling from many disciplines and it brought me so much joy.
As for far right archeology, I hate it when news channels, professors or RUclips presenters tell me how to think. In my opinion, if you present the information, (as Stephen Milo does so well) and leave the opinions up to the viewer, you have a much better chance of opening minds. If someone is looking for confirmation bias, they will immediately negate all the information shared, if the perspective being shared is contrary to their own bias. If you share facts, that negate their belief system, they have the opportunity for an AWW... HAA.. moment. Science is incredibly simple, once people understand a few basic concepts.. It's just a matter of getting them past the magical, mystical thinking and giving them the opportunity to open their minds. Can you imagine if every human being valued scientific fact, as much as they currently value religion? Earth, humanity and the future would look incredibly different.
As someone who flopped their A-levels because of health issues, and depression over those health issues, I never thought I’d ever be able to go to university. At the age of 31 I applied to university, and got in. I’m 32 now and have just finished my first year where I ended the year with first over all. Never feel ashamed for not getting the a levels you needed, it doesn’t mean you can’t succeed at university. You can!
Almost the same story here. Flopped high school because I couldn't pay attention, never thought I'd be able to go to university, applied at 27 and finished my undergrad last year at 30 with a first overall.
@@AlexSalikan well done! I’m immensely proud of myself and I hope you’re proud of yourself! When I told everyone I was going to Uni, I think they mostly thought I’d drop out after a week, but I stuck with it and I fell in love with it completely. It’s summer break now and I genuinely miss learning and can’t wait to go back. I’ve proved to myself and others around me that I can do it, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
@@StefanMilo thank you! I’m a history student which I bloody love, but your channel has really ignited an interest in prehistory and anthropology too. I also love you citing sources. I went down a rabbit hole one week reading a bunch.
Petition signed. As if the last 18 months hasn't been hard enough for students, university honcho's do this. Good luck to all those who are affected by this abomination.
Interesting... had no idea. I spent my semester abroad in the Sheffield archaeology department in 1996. Great experience and great instructors. My advisor was Marek Zvelebil, he gave me a surprising amount of time for a foreign student just there for a few months.
Prior to the announcement of the closure of the archaeology dept someone on social media was asking, which out of Sheffield and Lincoln Uni was the best to study at. The advice that was given was that you will get a good education at both Universities. But Lincoln university really cares about the students education and Sheffield university really cares about money. I think that pretty much sums up the situation.
I've never been to Sheffield and I was turned down for degree courses for Archaeology twice (no name no pack drill to the uni involved) but I'm still signing the petition. Covid has been an excuse for bean counters to decimate the humanities the way it was done to the arts at the end of the 20th C. It seems that unless you're making money for somebody richer than you and you already come from a more 'comfortable' background you're not going to get the opportunity to develop your interests. Thank God I don't live in England anymore and my children were born in a more rational part of the UK that still invests in the education of all its young people ... otherwise my children couldn't afford the opportunities I had by getting my Degree and Post Grad.
sad to see this inevitability. same with archaeology as a whole in the US. however we are dealing with weaponized trends of political correctness that influence the administrators to defund studies that might be perceived by the masses as ‘incorrect.’
Dear Stefan, thank you for this video. Many of comments here point to a fact that apparent closure of the archeology department is due to the university being run as a business. I don't think so. I am a phd candidate at University of Warsaw, Poland. Here the Best universities are publicly funded. Basically the federal government pays the tuition fees for all polish students who wish to enroll, also almost all research grants are funded by government run agencies. Therefore this model is as opposite to 'running university like a business' model as possible. One may think that it is great. Well it is not. As a matter of fact polish universities (even the best ones) come up in international rankings at the very bottom of the list. Our universities are of a very poor quality. This is just a fact. Please note that Poland is not some kind of an tiny, obscure. 7,5% citizens on EU are Polish... Yet our universities score in rankings as if Poland was tenfold, or 100 times of a smaller country. My point here is that running university like a business is not necessarily a bad thing. What has to be kept in mind is that universities, and in fact any education generates what economists call ‘external effects’. Funny term, but the logic behind it is simple. Basically many other people benefit from one person being educated. Educated society is an asset on its own. One's education does not only serve herself. Also, research in many fields brings results which are not market goods, which can be sold at a profit. Not because this research is pointless, but because there is no market for this product. Take a Boolean algebra as an example. Introduced by George Boole in 1847. Obscure topic back then... But wait a century, and based on his research allied forces win war, and we now may enjoy computers. It would be a shame if we foregone some obscure research now and as a result the humanity could not cure cancer next century. The conclusion of my topic is, that we should not fight back running universities as businesses. Universities may be run this way or another. What we have to Focus on is how to measure the value of the external effects created by education and research, and how to compensate universities for creating this valuable product. It has to be compensated because there is simply no market for it. I gave examples outside the field of humanities, where one could place archeology. But archeology creates the external effects as well. Archeology makes understand ourselves better. It is hard to know where one is if one does not know where she came from. There is no market for 'being a conscious member of society'. But it doesn't mean that it is worthless, does it? I am not sure whether my thoughts on the matter are interesting for anybody. I had a breakfast break in work, so I thought that I'll share. Cheers Guys Artur Rutkowski
I think there are too many confounding factors to suggest that Polish universities rank lower than British ones because they are publicly funded. As an example, if Cambridge were in Poland, how many Polish students would be able to afford to go there? I would rather be able to attend a low ranking university than none at all. If external effects became publicly funded, but the universities still charged tuition, then the people would just end up paying taxes to a university they can't afford to attend. The bottom line is that there is no benefit to having someone siphoning money out of the education system to line their own pocket.
It is a shame given that history and archaeology is now widely disseminated among the general public through YT. Arguably it is the most interesting time to be involved in these fields and beyond. They need a passionate presenter and educator to help rebuild.
If these administrators refuse to act as educators, then their lack of foresight will have an untold cost. Big sigh here. Which students' minds do they choose to quell? No wonder they use cloaks
I've hiked in the Peak District on the Sheffield side for about 15 years now, and the place is rife with historical sites, and has a bunch of Bronze-age / neolithic stone circles and remains dotted about, and yet there's hardly any archaeology going on at all! Maybe it's due to the remoteness of these places? But still, a real big missed opportunity. . .
A germane and very interesing detour. I fear similar things are going on at many of our institutions of higher learning, with decisions being taken out of the hands of those who actually understand the process of teaching.
Really feel for the students and faculty, not to mention past students like yourself, and future students who may never get the opportunity to study the field.
![Egyptians OBVIOUSLY worked granite [REDUX]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yAIOykJ9pbg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Egyptians OBVIOUSLY worked granite [REDUX]](/img/tr.png)
Thanks so much to Hugh and Umberto. Big shout out to all Sheffield archaeology students, you're a bunch of legends.
Sign the petition to save Sheffield archaeology.
www.change.org/p/university-of-sheffield-save-sheffield-s-archaeology-department?redirect=false
More Resources to help:
sites.google.com/view/save-sheffield-archaeology/home
Petition to save Chester: (note I misspoke, Chester only wants to make substantial cuts to the department not close it entirely. Still absolute bollocks, please sign the petition).
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7BCF0nXutFxKrfNDVacxUd-aZW8TZh6FhBBSlIW0UKLlrSg/viewform
@@yungpep It's coming, it's coming. At some undefined point.
I just finished my 2nd year at University of Sheffield and am so disappointed by my experience this past year. I know weve been in the pandemic but the department has really let students down this year.
@@connorcurtis5957 I'm sorry our experiences were so different. As I said, when I went it was a huge department, lots of staff, lots of opportunities. It's a shame, for sure.
Big shout sharing this Stefan- just graduated with a masters in engineering but have always loved the channel & have friends on / recently graduating from the course. Hopefully all the press about this means the dept will pull through!
I applied to Sheffield but went to Liverpool, nevertheless it looked an excellent department and getting rid of it would be nothing short of moronic. Thank you for supporting Chester as well, my local Uni.
This is what happens when you run education as a business. Shame.
here in the States much of the funding for private universities is provided by wealthy ex jocks (sports enthusiasts) who want THEIR university to have winning teams, vicariously reliving their "glory days". plus, televised college sports rake in the money. education isn't high in most jocks' priorities.
@@jessebianchi2631 the great American pastime of disparaging anyone who enjoys athletics.
@@disprogreavette8545 i don't mind athletics. phys ed is healthy. no one denies that. healthy body, healthy mind and all.
sad fact is that jocks (persons who devote their existence to sports, particularly blood sports) and the people who worship at the alter of their favorite teams tend to be dumber than bags of rocks.
@@jessebianchi2631 I'm not American and not a follower of sports in general (I am a runner though). I've just noticed over the years when I speak with ones visiting my country they seem embarrassed by the hardcore fan or former high school star athlete who lives in the past.
@@disprogreavette8545 well, think of Al Bundy of Married with Children.
yeah, pretty embarrassing.
As a former academic in Britain I can only say the following: the cancerous growth of ineffectual HR departments and their becoming the 'front end' of British universities has led to this. For the last 2 decades the bureaucracy has been expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy, completely draining the blood from what universities are actually about, namely students and academics. For the cost of one parasitic health and safety officer, departmental accountant or senior acquisitions manager you could comfortably employ any number of characteristically frugal researchers or fund the research of those already in place.
Absolutely!
Well stated
It's the same in Australia & probably elsewhere
What do those people do? Would anything be different if they weren't there?
Yes, has been the same in Australia for decades. Universities are not for academics, they are for administrators and their goal is not education, but siphoning off grant dollars from government and industry. If only Archaeology could patent its findings and sell them to drug companies, they would do fine.
This is happening in Australia too, in molecular science in my experience. Our department was halved, our working space and labs were halved and in its place a new HR department was put in.
Petition signed. Educators should have a say in the future their own departments. Mad respect to you for using your platform to keep quality education accessible
Thank you!
Agreed, drew! Petition signed.
post scriptum: i also love your videos!
@@COSMOKRAT_616 doubly agreed here, too!
As a current student of Archaeology from the University of Sheffield, this news has come as disappointing and upsetting.
I’m sure, I’d have been extremely demoralised. Don’t let this hold you back though, life is long and opportunities can appear when you least expect
Take Stefens advice on this one :) It's excellent advice. I know because I'm old lol.
it was a real pleasure talking to Stefan; I so much enjoyed his memories of Sheffield - and how refreshing is to talk to people who really have a genuine desire to understand what is going on! #SaveSheffieldArchaeology
All Human Knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use.
- A. E. Housman
More of our culture at risk of being lost because of stupidity and greed, thanks for making this video. Everyone sign the petition!!!
I work at Sheff Uni as a research tech in an evolutionary microbiology lab. I felt sickened when I heard the news. Academics - especially post-docs - often get treated like absolute shite by the University, pension cuts, no job security, etc, but shutting down an entire department is something else.
The same is happening in my field of ecology and environmental science. Higher education should be subsidized, but today universities are seen as profit-driven businesses. That will end up destroying them. Universities must produce knowledge, not profit!
Indeed. I drive past my old university (Essex) occasionally and am always depressed by how commercially orientated it is nowadays. It is sad how Higher Education in the UK has been treated by successive administrations, Conservative and Labour, over the last three decades.
It is a serious shame. Good on you for making this video. Signed the petition!
It is, terrible decision. The department isn't even losing money? There's just no reason to do it.
There was a point in history when a small opaque group of people tried to silence research into history and oh yes, we can't talk about them for similar reasons!
Fight this nonsense which is happening everywhere. HISTORY IS HUMANITY. What deprives one of us deprives all of us.
Bless Sheffield University and Stefan Milo. Signed the petition and hope that more people do as well.
Thank you Stefan for all of your wonderful videos, they've helped me expand interest at my workplace into ancient history and the ways prehistoric man lived. It makes me so happy to hear my coworkers say that they watched your videos or signed up to a podcast about similar subjects.
So Sheffield has a long term strategic goal to raise its reputation by axing departments with standards loose enough to take Stefan Milo as a student?
lol it seems so
more would’ve expected Hallam to be trying to raise their reputation, not uni of
Thank you for raising this! As a student at Sheffield speaking to people in both the archaeology and the languages departments (which as you mention has also been gutted- in this case a complete de-specialisation of the course which will affect current 1st, 2nd years and those who have already signed up to start in september) it's very clear that it's taking a huge toll on students. Watching how the management have so easily destroyed two departments against the wishes of both staff and students so easily makes me worry which departments are next - I have no faith in the uni higher-ups not to do this to more departments. I hope the archaeology department can be saved, but having seen the way management have treated languages, I'm feeling rather pessimistic. Still got to keep fighting though.
I have often wonder how people in Rome felt when their civilization stated to decline. Now I know…
For the algorithm. Hope this initiative is successful
Thanks, be sure to sign the petition!
@@StefanMilo signed
For the algorithm!
As a alumni of Sheffield University it cuts hard that the archaeology department is closing
Not at all impressed by the decision and so sorry for everyone associated with the department 😥
I don't know anything about the background to this... however it looks related to other politically motivated things that I see going on. "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." Could it be that people who want to control the future find it easier to rewrite the past if there aren't a load of knowledgeable archaeologists and historians about to contradict them ?
It would be nice if it was that simple. The funding of Higher Education in the UK has undergone a seismic shift over the last three decades. I went to university as a mature (theoretically) student in 1994. I received a grant and I even received the additional £1k per annum that was in place to encourage people like myself into universities. That was the last 'intake' which received that money. Most of us took out the student loans because the terms were good for mature students and we only had to pay for our living costs, not the cost of the course. But even then the senior academics were lamenting how much more difficult it was becoming to access funds for research. What has basically happened in the UK is that successive administrations have inflated the the university base but cut the amount of money they are prepared to give it. This forces universities to be more commercial and focus on core subjects rather than allowing students a broad range of choice. My old university (Essex) is a radically different place now compared to when I was there and I wince every time I drive past because it is so much more focussed on business.
Unless you believe the higher ups in Sheffield University are literal Nazis then no.
so you think nazis are the only ones to ever try to rewrite history?
@@foxhound963 I think the idea that the people that control the University of Sheffield are trying to rewrite history is conspiratorial nonsense on par with people that watch this channel and believe Atlantis exist.
@@ReddoFreddo that is a much mor e logical criticism. What would be even better is if you elaborated on why you think that is so.
The university could have lots of students from US, Canada and Australia if it wanted them. The opportunities to dig at sites of all different times sounds great. Why in the world would any British university scale back its Archeology department? That's like the University of Kansas getting rid of its tornado studies.
Because the UK government has turned education into for-profit business
The U.K. government doesn’t like anthropology and archaeology...
It's not the fault of the government, this approach in British universities has been going on for decades.
I am a retired Canadian electrical engineer and I definitely have heard of the past reputation of the archeology department. I worked with a few graduates from there as well. I absolutely would have loved to take classes there. I did graduate studies in Scotland. Different UK universities did presentations here in Calgary Alberta Canada, and I was impressed enough with the recruitment program that I did my MBA program in the UK at Herriot-Watt in Edinburgh. Why is it that Heriot-Watt could recruit so many students here in Calgary and other cities in Canada, and Shefield cannot do so? Cheers from Canada.
Ironically enough, the University of Kansas has an amazing paleontology and archeology department. 😬
The you tube channel Archeosoup has devoted 3 discussions of this, including a portion of the students' meeting with the Vice Provost. He has posted links to further information. I live in Georgia, US, and thus have no contact except what I see online. I am horrified by the national government's shortsigthedness and anti-education vibes. Having just experienced that attitude in our government, I hope that wisdom strikes.
This happened across several faculties in Australia. Universities in Australia are imploding and great academics are finding work elsewhere. I feel very sorry for young people. Teenager are also affected by this because the effects will last for many years
As archaeologists one can look at this from a historical perspective: it’s like living through the Fall of Rome.
Ineffectual army, decreasing life-expectancy, collapsing services, potholes in the roads, corrupt government, pandemics, migration, economic, educational and artistic decline…
I'm from Sheffield. Been living in Russia for quite a while. Stumbled across your channel and have been watching your vids (I'm an amateur enthusiast of anthropology and archeology). Scrolling through your page and I find out that you studied in my home town! Spot on!
After enjoying this channel for many months, I have started to put what I've learned into practice. I began speaking into a spoon, I sound far more intelligent now. Thank you for the lesson.
I feel exactly the same about what has happened to the University of Liverpool Medical School.
When I started -- in 1974 -- it was rated one of the Top 5 medical schools in the country (along with Edinburgh, Cambridge, Barts, Oxford).
Now ... it is rated dead LAST of 42! Medical schools that have existed less than a few years are rated higher.
Liverpool University is the original "Redbrick" -- named for the (then) huge Victoria Building, which housed the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine and which is built of beautiful Victorian red bricks.
I agree that the vast expansion of beaurocracy is to blame.
I’m an engineering student at Sheffield and seeing the archeology department shutting down slowly is hard to see can’t imagine seeing the engineering department shutting down it needs saving
I thought Sheffield had one of the finest archaeology department in the UK. I know they did some great work on Anglo-Saxons
Yeah they were and the staff that are left still do great work. Hugh has done a lot of research on Anglo Saxon time period. It’s such a shame that the management of the university made decisions to cut and now potentially close the department. Sign the petition though!
“Anglo-Saxon” is a racist term. Don’t use it.
@@arlingtonhynes No it's not.
@@swirvinbirds1971 Racist. Absolutely, incurably rooted in whiteness and racism.
www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/professor-michael-wood-anglo-saxon-name-debate-is-term-racist/
@@arlingtonhynes more alt-right nonsense it seems.
When researchers and educators today talk about the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon England’, they aren’t discussing a ‘racial’ group. The terms don’t even encapsulate one thing, but rather seven centuries of change and very different kingdoms and communities, from Kent to Cumbria, from East Anglia to the Welsh borders.
End of story. Go race bait elsewhere thanks.
As a retired US high school teacher I am of the opinion that excellence in education rests on the expertise of the teacher. Support the teacher, you will get better educated students. Clearly that’s not the general trend here. Nor there, evidently. So sad to learn of this demise.
I really hope that public pressure and exposing what is going on behind closed doors can bring about a change within the university's overall plans. Good luck.
I did my MA at USheff...
It was an incredible experience on every level, and opened up enormous opportunities for me.
The idea that one of the most prestigious and highly-rated departments of archaeology should be ending for goodness-knows-what ideological reason is extremely disheartening. The idea that students who will be/are being robbed of the knowledge, experience, and opportunity that they in good faith applied for is both shocking and shameful.
I am Canadian living in Calgary Alberta and I have met a number of Shefield graduates in my engineering and computer science career. I have heard about a number of your universities projects and programs. It is truly a waste and a disastrous situation for the university and local community. It was truly telling of the situation in regards to the form letter responsive regardless of position in the communities and government. Publicising this situation is very important to everyone. I see the universities actions reflecting and reacting to a worldwide situation of anti-education and anti-science especially. This is happening here in Canada as well. I am retired now, but both of my children are studying engineering as I did, this anti-education & anti-science paranoia will effect them and everyone else in this world, so I am extremely concerned about this ongoing problem. Do take care. Cheers from Canada.
Archaeology would have been what I would study if I had chosen by interest instead of a career, however, I absolutely hate my university, my course, and lecturers. Seeing how u have graduated for over a decade and still cared so much about the department and the course is truly astonishing. Sadly after this year, it will be history itself.
It's a problem in the Netherlands too, all universities I know of are gutting their Humanities faculties, language, history, archaeology etc. A damn shame :(
I signed the petition, I’m disgusted at this mindless gutting of education. I really hope we can make a difference here. It sounds like a great archeology department.
Signed and comment for the algorithm. Thanks for spreading the word about this. Yorkshire deserves nice things too.
My parents both went to Sheffield in the 80s, although they did science and engineering, but it sounds like it was good back then. My sister currently studies history at Leicester and she tells me they have all kinds of troubles with the management there, including a load of redundancies.
Yeah Leicester is another place going through it. Arts and humanities are really being squeezed across the UK. It’s a big shame
@@StefanMilo it’s not just the UK unfortunately it’s also here in the U.S
@@StefanMilothis is happening in brazil as well... its such a shame
It really is appalling that things like this happen. All of you keep up the great work!
Sorry to hear about the university. Love reading about british archaeology and this is a huge blow.
Aye up knew I'd seen Thee somewhere before. 2007 - 2010 Mixed in student circles regularly & volunteered on occasion to help archaeologists scouring the Whirlow fields for flints. Never forget a face.
Nice work Stef. Though you interviewed the two guys that gave me my lowest grades. Painful memories.
Well there was discussion of my academic performance which had to be edited out. Did you recognise the spot in Czech Republic?
@@StefanMilo Řip? I think the legend is that it was on that hill where the Slavs first arrived in Czechia (updated version of the story), looked down on the land and decided to settle.
I'd not be surprised if some students sued. There is a contract of sorts, both expressed and implied, when you start your education, that you should be able to finish your degree within a certain time period. The University enriched itself based on this understanding. So at most, some of these students might have a case for the return of some of their fees and tuition. Other students might have a case for the costs of resituating at another University, not to mention the psychological harm and other eventualities. The university does not seem to be negotiating in good faith and as employers they may run into issues where the professors might sue under the local labor laws.
I am Canadian and in my youth dreamed if becoming an archaeologist. It doesn't make sense to me that this is happening as the advancement of technologies has opened this science to entirely new possibilities! Petitions are signed!! Keep fighting Gents!
I seriously considered going abroad to study in Sheffield when I went back to school a couple of years ago. It seemed like a great program and ultimately with the uncertainty of Brexit I chose something closer to home. Petition signed.
This just an interaction for the algorithm. This needs visibility.
I think that your channel is proof that the defunding of universities is inevitable. You are actually giving us opportunities that weren't there when you studied. It's just that traditions are being replaced, and particularly institutions. Ironically this is something anthropologists should know about. Keep up the good work!
I appreciate you guys, you seem to be genuinely interested in providing a good education to a wide variety of students. If you did not give guys like Stefan a chance, he would be working at the car wash right now and we would not have the benefits of his honest insights on many scientific subjects! I always look forward to Stefan's epic productions!
In today’s world 2 plus 2 no longer equals 4. Let them pass knowing nothing. Teach them they don’t need to work.
God bless you and your friends at the Dept of Archaeology
Politicaians in Serbia: "We will have education as good as UK!"
meanwhile in Sheffield: ...
Signed the petition. I don’t understand the decision. Thinking of you Sheffield Uni archeology dept x
Stefan, I see you currently have 103K subscribers. Although I don't have a degree in Archaeology, I watch you because I have an interest in Archeology and you make it interesting and fun to watch. So, your Sheffield education has had a very significant impact on those who feel as I do and many others as well. I don't really know why the University has made this decision but it must in part be related to funding, possible a lack of understanding what the program has achieved and perhaps a change in the educational environment. Some folks want to change the reality of history and change how it is written. As a consequence, it is better for them that certain programs be eliminated. Archeology is history. It helps us define the past and better understand the future. I am sure you'll continue to do what you can. As we all should. Thanks and thanks to Sheffield for having helped to make you what you are.
They tripled the fees around a decade ago. They then hugely de-funded the department. Classy.
The UK university system - in its entirety -, not just archeology, has been in decline since the early to mid 90s. This was when it was decided to phase out student grants (in the former most general sense), a plan begun under John Major, but completed under Tony Blair. It was not this policy per se or alone which caused the decline but what it was masking and facilitating. It marked a switch from university funding based upon the academic standing and research output of a university through its various departments to one of funding based purely on the numbers of undergraduates it could cram into its buildings. This could not be achieved while high academic standards restricted the undergraduate intake. Why was the large intake desirable? Almost certainly not to better educate larger numbers of the public. Almost certainly to keep a larger number of people off the unemployment figures for three to four years. Plus, debt, student or otherwise, is a great way to subdue a willful and demanding public. My recent academic friends and colleagues in the uni sector referred to the undergrads as "the cash cows". This was only jokingly of course, but it was a gallows humour. Universities were originally an academic research training ground - those which did best continued in that employ, but even those less strong in their academic achievements still served that purpose as they often went into teaching in schools. The universities transitioned from research institutions to paper mills pumping out qualifications which are demanded by employers for jobs which do not require them. In lock step with university decline we also had in schools the grade erosion in GCSEs and A Levels from the early 90s onwards ("My qualification goes up to 11!") a paper thin ruse to make people think they are doing better and better than the generations before, while in reality learning less and less. Such a decline, with such history and momentum, is hard to reverse.
Well done for raising this issue through your channel. Petition signed!
New to your channel and just saw this vid. I'm sorry that Sheffield University's Department of Archaeology shall cease to be a stand-alone administrative unit as of September 2024. Awful.
I applied for Archaeology and History for September. Due to change this change to just History. I'm happy to be part of Sheffield University it is just a shame we miss out on the opportunity to expand knowledge
Liverpool are still offering this degree in clearing, if you still want to do archaeology and history :/
I'm an American but would love to see this episode updated - it's been 2 years now. What actually happened? What was the actual cause? Thanks so much.
its closing right now september 2024, sad time we are living, but because of the support the staf was not terminated but transfers in other departements. no more undergrad in archaeology tho so when the staff finish their carrear its over
I am a student currently studying biochemistry at the university of Sheffield. There’s some big disturbing changes happening to the university in general. It’s worrying
I heard a-lot British university’s are corrupted but man this sucks it’s just a shame -
I also got into my archaeology degree through clearing, and ive been accepted into a phd now
Sadly UK uni administrators have for decades accepted government drives to commodify higher education, rather than unite with staff and students to defend their institutions. A total betrayal of their responsibilities.
Please don't blame all administrators. This is a senior management issue (many of whom are academics) and a lot of administrators have worked hard to support and help departments, and point out issues to management. The administrators in the Arch. dept have also been hit by this decision and I personally would have been lost without those guys during my time there.
Another uni adminstrator here. Please check your facts, just like in Health and Primary/Secondary Education, this is due to senior/executive managers. Administrators ARE the staff and we are constantly fighting senior management to do the best for students.
@@andybeans5790 I'm an academic that was also an administrator for 7 years and it really breaks my heart the misunderstanding about what administrators do, with a general lack of respect for their role and work.
Apologies to university administration and I stand corrected.
Stefan, I totally love your eye on life (and on ex-lives). I’m a Latin crank who glows vesuvian when an American university considers dumping its Greco-Latin or Classicist or Archeology or Antiquity curricula. And given the competition for students’ attention-Facebook, video games, email & texting with appalling poverty of expression and orthography-there’s no convincing alternative to education without Cicero, unless Oblivion of The Demiliterate is a legitimate field of scholarship..
This sounds really similar to what a lot of American universities have been doing. WVU Almost completely shut down their anthropology department until they had a wave of student interest. Wishing you all the best and I hope everything pans out well!
Please do more videos like this. I'm hoping to come to the UK to do a Masters and PhD in Archaeology. This information is so useful!
I've heard things like this are going on around several UK universities.
As a recent graduate from the University of Melbourne, I've seen a steady decline in the quality of the university in such a short space of time - when the pandemic hit, the university used it as an excuse to 'restructure' and fire a huge number of staff despite having no large losses, with degrees still costing the same amount. The University takes no advice from the academics and support staff that keep the place running, and it costs everyone.
Both our football teams have declined too. Blunt Blades are in the championship but more upsetting the Owls are in league 1 😣🦉 WAWAW.
I’m sorry this is happening. Education is becoming a toxic mess
I really hope you get through all of this!
I was so proud to be admitted to Sheffield four years ago to do an MA in Landscape Archaeology, based on the fantastic reputation it had. I was quickly disabused of this view - not of the Department, but of the organisational shambles that was the management of the University. Every aspect of registering, paying fees, accessing services was problematic. Its a good job they were not in charge of drinking events in breweries. Shortly after, I learned of the planned demise of the Department. This has now come to pass despite all of the protests. It had nothing to do with academic excellence and everything to do with a misguided desire to maximise income which could then be spent on huge salaries for senior management and prestige projects.
It’s a great shame. Universities all over Europe are going through the same struggle. Terrible oversight, bad management and lack of legitimate feeding into national heritage work. A sad state of affairs when something isn’t considered a profit making endeavour is left to the wayside.
Answer?
Set up your own archaeological school/department and seek funding from Sheffield industry, (If there is any remaining!) or businesses,
.
Good luck with your campaign to oppose this shutdown. I'm not an archaeologist, in fact I'm not even British - I'm an Australian engineer - but I find this really depressing and upsetting.
The cynic in me speculates. Archaeology is often the bane of development, one wonders if this is the impetus?
Or if the desire is to replace a self-sustaining department with one that generates more revenue.
I have been binging some of Stefan's videos. What is the meaning behind the plastic spoon attached to every mic he uses? Is this just an OCD thing he has?
I love your content. I love archaeology. I even watch reruns of TimeTeam on youtube ffs.
I am sorry to hear about what is happening at Sheffield University. The archaeology department at my alma mater had been merged with sociology and only had 1 full-time archaeology prof (who was a delight obviously). Archaeology is a powerful subject pulling from many disciplines and it brought me so much joy.
As for far right archeology, I hate it when news channels, professors or RUclips presenters tell me how to think. In my opinion, if you present the information, (as Stephen Milo does so well) and leave the opinions up to the viewer, you have a much better chance of opening minds. If someone is looking for confirmation bias, they will immediately negate all the information shared, if the perspective being shared is contrary to their own bias. If you share facts, that negate their belief system, they have the opportunity for an AWW... HAA.. moment. Science is incredibly simple, once people understand a few basic concepts.. It's just a matter of getting them past the magical, mystical thinking and giving them the opportunity to open their minds. Can you imagine if every human being valued scientific fact, as much as they currently value religion? Earth, humanity and the future would look incredibly different.
Petition failed. The department is shutting down, or 'joining' with 'History and Biosciences' as they say.
Respect for sticking up to your roots!
Good luck Sheffield University!
At the end: "Good luck defending your futures." Yeah, but also, good luck in defending our past.
As someone who flopped their A-levels because of health issues, and depression over those health issues, I never thought I’d ever be able to go to university. At the age of 31 I applied to university, and got in. I’m 32 now and have just finished my first year where I ended the year with first over all. Never feel ashamed for not getting the a levels you needed, it doesn’t mean you can’t succeed at university. You can!
Almost the same story here. Flopped high school because I couldn't pay attention, never thought I'd be able to go to university, applied at 27 and finished my undergrad last year at 30 with a first overall.
@@AlexSalikan well done! I’m immensely proud of myself and I hope you’re proud of yourself!
When I told everyone I was going to Uni, I think they mostly thought I’d drop out after a week, but I stuck with it and I fell in love with it completely. It’s summer break now and I genuinely miss learning and can’t wait to go back. I’ve proved to myself and others around me that I can do it, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
Absolutely! Great job
@@StefanMilo thank you! I’m a history student which I bloody love, but your channel has really ignited an interest in prehistory and anthropology too. I also love you citing sources. I went down a rabbit hole one week reading a bunch.
Thank you for helping to spread the word about this travesty!
Petition signed. As if the last 18 months hasn't been hard enough for students, university honcho's do this. Good luck to all those who are affected by this abomination.
Disgraceful. I’m off to sign the petition.
Interesting... had no idea. I spent my semester abroad in the Sheffield archaeology department in 1996. Great experience and great instructors. My advisor was Marek Zvelebil, he gave me a surprising amount of time for a foreign student just there for a few months.
My Archaeology lecturer in Australia is a Sheffield alumnus. I'll have to ask him about this.
I would of loved to get a degree in that stuff, I never got the chance due to financial issues, I do have a passion for all that , I always have.
Prior to the announcement of the closure of the archaeology dept someone on social media was asking, which out of Sheffield and Lincoln Uni was the best to study at. The advice that was given was that you will get a good education at both Universities. But Lincoln university really cares about the students education and Sheffield university really cares about money. I think that pretty much sums up the situation.
I've never been to Sheffield and I was turned down for degree courses for Archaeology twice (no name no pack drill to the uni involved) but I'm still signing the petition. Covid has been an excuse for bean counters to decimate the humanities the way it was done to the arts at the end of the 20th C. It seems that unless you're making money for somebody richer than you and you already come from a more 'comfortable' background you're not going to get the opportunity to develop your interests.
Thank God I don't live in England anymore and my children were born in a more rational part of the UK that still invests in the education of all its young people ... otherwise my children couldn't afford the opportunities I had by getting my Degree and Post Grad.
sad to see this inevitability. same with archaeology as a whole in the US. however we are dealing with weaponized trends of political correctness that influence the administrators to defund studies that might be perceived by the masses as ‘incorrect.’
Damn, i have been accepted by Sheffield Uni and I'm trying to decide whether I should accept the offer or not
Times are changing. Education is moving online. Milo is now our teacher and we are his students from all over the world. Welcome to the reset !
Milo is great, but archaeology needs practical experience.
Dear Stefan,
thank you for this video. Many of comments here point to a fact that apparent closure of the archeology department is due to the university being run as a business. I don't think so.
I am a phd candidate at University of Warsaw, Poland. Here the Best universities are publicly funded. Basically the federal government pays the tuition fees for all polish students who wish to enroll, also almost all research grants are funded by government run agencies. Therefore this model is as opposite to 'running university like a business' model as possible.
One may think that it is great. Well it is not. As a matter of fact polish universities (even the best ones) come up in international rankings at the very bottom of the list. Our universities are of a very poor quality. This is just a fact. Please note that Poland is not some kind of an tiny, obscure. 7,5% citizens on EU are Polish... Yet our universities score in rankings as if Poland was tenfold, or 100 times of a smaller country. My point here is that running university like a business is not necessarily a bad thing.
What has to be kept in mind is that universities, and in fact any education generates what economists call ‘external effects’. Funny term, but the logic behind it is simple. Basically many other people benefit from one person being educated. Educated society is an asset on its own. One's education does not only serve herself. Also, research in many fields brings results which are not market goods, which can be sold at a profit. Not because this research is pointless, but because there is no market for this product. Take a Boolean algebra as an example. Introduced by George Boole in 1847. Obscure topic back then... But wait a century, and based on his research allied forces win war, and we now may enjoy computers. It would be a shame if we foregone some obscure research now and as a result the humanity could not cure cancer next century.
The conclusion of my topic is, that we should not fight back running universities as businesses. Universities may be run this way or another. What we have to Focus on is how to measure the value of the external effects created by education and research, and how to compensate universities for creating this valuable product. It has to be compensated because there is simply no market for it.
I gave examples outside the field of humanities, where one could place archeology. But archeology creates the external effects as well. Archeology makes understand ourselves better. It is hard to know where one is if one does not know where she came from. There is no market for 'being a conscious member of society'. But it doesn't mean that it is worthless, does it?
I am not sure whether my thoughts on the matter are interesting for anybody. I had a breakfast break in work, so I thought that I'll share.
Cheers Guys
Artur Rutkowski
I think there are too many confounding factors to suggest that Polish universities rank lower than British ones because they are publicly funded. As an example, if Cambridge were in Poland, how many Polish students would be able to afford to go there? I would rather be able to attend a low ranking university than none at all. If external effects became publicly funded, but the universities still charged tuition, then the people would just end up paying taxes to a university they can't afford to attend. The bottom line is that there is no benefit to having someone siphoning money out of the education system to line their own pocket.
It is a shame given that history and archaeology is now widely disseminated among the general public through YT. Arguably it is the most interesting time to be involved in these fields and beyond. They need a passionate presenter and educator to help rebuild.
If these administrators refuse to act as educators, then their lack of foresight will have an untold cost. Big sigh here. Which students' minds do they choose to quell? No wonder they use cloaks
I've hiked in the Peak District on the Sheffield side for about 15 years now, and the place is rife with historical sites, and has a bunch of Bronze-age / neolithic stone circles and remains dotted about, and yet there's hardly any archaeology going on at all!
Maybe it's due to the remoteness of these places? But still, a real big missed opportunity. . .
Great video! Fingers crossed things will change for the better soon.
A germane and very interesing detour. I fear similar things are going on at many of our institutions of higher learning, with decisions being taken out of the hands of those who actually understand the process of teaching.
Really feel for the students and faculty, not to mention past students like yourself, and future students who may never get the opportunity to study the field.
In 2014, I was an American who got accepted into both ucl and this university for my ma. I chose ucl. I am kind of happy now seeing this.