By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Condemnation has trailed the University of Chichester’s embargo placement on master’s by research (MRes) course in the history of Africa and the African diaspora.
The UK university by this policy has also been accused of attempts to make first British person of African origin to become a professor of history in the UK redundant by cutting off the course he runs.
Prof Hakim Adi, an academic and expert in the history of Africa and the African diaspora is at risk of termination after the suspension of admission of new students in the course he handles.
The MRes in the history of Africa and the African diaspora was suspended after a review by the curriculum planning committee.
The decision has attracted condemnation among current and former students, who say Adi has led the way for successive historians of African descent and other underrepresented communities in the UK.
Adi has worked at the University of Chichester for more than a decade, and founded the MRes in 2017.
In an open letter to the vice-chancellor, Prof Jane Longmore, protesters note that the MRes was largely created to train mature students of African and Caribbean heritage as historians.
According to them, since its creation, seven MRes students have gone on to undertake studies at PhD level, six of them at the University of Chichester.
Nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition against Adi’s proposed redundancy and suspension of admission for the course.
“A unique course is being shut down; a master’s-level course in Britain, in Europe, in the world, that focuses on the history of Africa and the African diaspora. It is a course that was set up to train historians, especially those of African and Caribbean heritage, which is being lost, and there’s nothing to replace it.
“It’s worth saying that not only for future students who won’t have the opportunity, but if I’m made redundant, my current PhD and master’s students will have no one to supervise them as no one else in the university has that expertise,” Adi said.
He described his proposed redundancy and the suspension of the master’s as an attack on black history and the training of black historians. “There are already too few students of African and Caribbean heritage; that’s why the course was set up. The aim was to have a course that could make a difference. It has made a difference.”
A member of the parliament, Bell Ribeiro-Addy of the Labour Party has tabled an early day motion in parliament, which was supported by two other Labour MPs.
The motion expresses disappointment at the recent announcement and that “the University of Chichester has chosen to tie Professor Adi’s employment to the master’s by research, despite him being in post for several years before the course began”.
A spokesperson said the university had made the difficult decision to suspend or close a number of postgraduate courses that were not viable, saying the cost of delivery outweighs the income from fees received.
The spokesperson added: “Since the programme launched in 2017, the university has invested over £700,000 into the delivery of this programme but has only received £150,000 of tuition fees during this same time period.”
But Adi said the figures released by the university on the investment it put into the course were “astonishing” and had not been previously provided to him.
He added: “If they actually had that money to spend, they should have provided student bursaries and recruited students. It shows considerable incompetence if their figure is accurate.”
According to the spokesperson, “The university supported the launch of the MRes in the history of Africa and the African diaspora course in 2017, recognising this important subject matter. However, despite extensive marketing of the programme across all major postgraduate channels and social media, the course has always recruited a relatively small number of students.”
The spokesperson added that it would work to support staff and students affected by the decisions.
