Call for Papers
Special Issue in Arts and Humanities in Higher Education
‘In the name of employability: faculties and futures for the arts and humanities in higher
education’
Guest Editors
Dr Daniel Ashton (University of Southampton, UK)
Professor Dawn Bennett (Bond University, Australia)
Dr Zoe Hope Bulaitis (University of Birmingham, UK)
Dr Michael Tomlinson (University of Southampton, UK)
Background
This special issue aims to examine the faculties and futures of the arts and humanities within the context of global labour market and higher education reforms. We ask contributors to
consider the role of the arts and humanities within the context of work and society, both now and in the near future; the visions and versions of employability that are invoked and responded to within the arts and humanities; and the solutions which might enable the arts and humanities to regain or reframe their centrality. Ten years ago, the edited collection The Public Value of the Humanities (Bate, 2011) suggested that ‘recession is a time for asking fundamental questions about value’ and the contributors did just that with their reflections on the public value of arts and humanities disciplines. This 2021 special issue seeks to examine the intricate connections and global challenges of ongoing recession, pandemic, climate change, national populism, intersectional inequalities, and more. A 2021 review in response to this panoply of crises is an opportunity to explore the continued and growing value of arts and humanities in higher education. It is also clear that this timely exposition and exchange is situated in the idea of what the arts and humanities can offer (Reisz, 2020). As governments and higher education institutions address the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of a university degree continues to be a disputed and debated field. Graduate destinations and employment outcomes have long been factored into the accounts of value and consequences when it comes to the role and function of the arts and humanities higher education (British Academy, 2017; Britton et al., 2020). At the same time, there has been considerable debate and reflection on the economic and social purposes of higher education (McArthur, 2011). Current governmental policy concerning higher education management firmly identifies the question of value with employment. For example, the recent interim response to the UK’s “Post-18 Review of Education and Funding” (Augar, 2020) highlights that skills and jobs are the priority in terms of government engagement in HE reform (DfE, 2021). The emphasis in the UK is on ‘strong graduate employment outcomes’ (see Adams, 2020) and in Australia, as elsewhere, there is similar identification of the need for ‘job ready graduates’ (Grattan, 2020). The terms of this discussion are reinforced in the responses and reports from a range of scholarly and policy organisations. This special issue explores the position and potential futures for the arts and humanities within this context. Building on the 2017 report The Right Skills, the British Academy’s Qualified for the Future report (2020) sets out how ‘graduates who study arts, humanities and social science disciplines are highly employable across a range of sectors and roles’ with recognised skills of ‘communication, collaboration, research and analysis, independence, creativity and adaptability’. Similarly, recent data from Forbes (Marr, 2019) and LinkedIn (2019, 2020) demonstrate that industry recognises the benefits of employees with skills learned and developed through critical thinking and creative activity. This also resonates with employers’ discourses around soft skills and other behavioural competencies that add value to workplaces. The ongoing social and economic shifts taking place during the global pandemic will undoubtably influence the skills that are valued in the labour market.