QM cuts Global Health course in the Middle of a Pandemic
The Barts and The London Global Health course is only 1 of only 3 BSc’s of its kind in this country and one that prides itself on widening participation and increasing access, especially for marginalised groups.
The academics who run the program work in the areas they teach, which transfers through their ethos of teaching and creates a unique environment of critical thinking and adds depth to the study of inequalities compared to its counterparts. In fact, last year, the course was awarded a teaching excellence award by Queen Mary for a course redesign; the department was planning on using current events to introduce the subject of Global Health, such as decolonisation and discrimmination and how a major Global Health incident is or should be approached.
Arguably, this is exactly what we need right now; more critical thinkers, more people who will think holistically, who will stand up and say ‘this is not working’, ‘this is not okay’, ‘these are not structures that will encourage us to do our best’. But, instead of adding to those numbers, Queen Mary’s centralised management took the decision this summer to remove the course. The day before results day. As if A Level students hadn’t been through enough of an ordeal with the government deciding their grades by the socio-economic background of where they live.
It might be a radical thing to suggest, but because of the content that we are taught, should the pedagogy not match up to it? When we walk into the classroom (or log into zoom), we should not feel like objects. However, because we still live in a world where this can’t be true, we are having to navigate the system that does, by default, treat us like that. It is therefore important for us to look at the system that's operating around us - if we want to go out and study other systems that dehumanise people, that operate and treat people like objects and numbers, we need to start in the here and now.
The student is consumer, and to quote Freire: ‘we cannot enter the struggle as objects only to later become subjects’’; if you are treated as an object then you cannot be a subject, and you don’t get to operate within both.
It is important to clarify that this decision was made by the university centralised management, not by The Institute of Population Health Sciences nor the Medical School, and that both parties attempted to argue against it. After push back, 3 reasons were given to explain why this decision had been made:
CONCERNS ABOUT NUMBERS IN RECRUITING
The university had worries that there wouldn’t be enough interest in a Global Health course during the middle of a pandemic. The course is uniquely situated as part of Barts- both physically and academically, seeing most of its students come through clearing, and many don’t look back. For this reason, along with the change in global circumstances, the department was confident that they were on track to meet their required threshold of students.
COURSE WASN’T MAKING ENOUGH MONEY
There is a written report in the pipelines, to be published by the department on this particular topic, but we have been assured that with the number of students we have and had expected to gain, the numbers worked- fairly favourably too. Other courses have apparently been cut in an attempt to save money in light of COVID also, some cuts were made back in April, but we are currently unaware of any that were removed at such short notice.
CONCERNS ABOUT QUALITY DUE TO NSS SCORES
The NSS results this year were extremely low, considering how highly the department have scored in previous years. It was also mentioned by Colin Bailey that several letters of complaint had been received, which called into question the quality of the degree. However, after talking to graduating students about their NSS scores and their reasoning, it became clear that these letters were in support of the industrial action that the majority of the department partook in several times over the past few years.
Additionally, when looking into which scores went down it is interesting to note that many of them were reflective of issues that have already been voiced by the student body.
For instance, Global Health is often overlooked as part of Barts and as an allied health course, which is felt at both student and staff levels, and is shown in the drop in the scores regarding student voice from 91-58. These scores should be used by the university as a tool to recognise areas that need higher focus and improvement, which is what they advertise it as. However, it seems that when it comes down to it, it’s actually used as a disciplinary mechanism within a neoliberal university to punish those who don’t seem to be ‘stepping up to the mark’.
There are of course a number of scenarios that are now having to be planned for, such as the fact that the course technically offers a year abroad, but if this should be allowed to happen there would be no cohort for students to return to. The same goes for students that may need to interrupt their studies for whatever reason, as is well within their right. During a conversation with members of the Global Health department about a week after the announcement, it was said that it had been made clear to the university that there would be a need for teaching to be provided until the academic year 2023/24, at least. By cutting the incoming first years, this decision has not only caused hundreds of hours of planning to be thrown away, but has also caused cancellations of staff contracts - not only a blow for the students who now don’t get to learn from these professionals but also a massive blow for the proportion of women of colour within the department.
It is unfortunately too late to attempt to reinstate the course this year, especially by the time this article is published (hello freshers’!), but there is hope that it won’t be impossible to bring it back next year. There is of course the legal obligation that the university has to provide current students with the degree they have started, so if there are any GH students reading this, please don’t worry. Our lecturers and other members of the department have assured us that they will not let this affect our degree and our learning, and will do all they can to support us in the transitions that will have to be made.
If you have any questions or would like to give support, please get in contact at circadian@bartslondon.com
