Q. What exactly is happening to the School of East Asian Studies (SEAS)? What are the proposed changes?
University management is planning to make four significant changes to the school. The proposed changes are:
Change to Specialist Undergraduate Degrees:
The university plans to merge individual undergraduate degrees in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean into a single, broader "East Asian Studies" degree.
Centralisation of Language Teaching:
Language teaching staff who currently work within the School of East Asian Studies will be transferred to a centralised university-wide teaching unit.
This move raises concerns about potential job security and employment conditions for language teachers.
Staff Reductions:
The university wants to "significantly" reduce the number of academic staff.
Initially, staff have been offered voluntary redundancy
However, if voluntary redundancies are insufficient to meet the desired reduction targets, compulsory redundancies may follow.
Centralization of Professional Services:
The university plans to further centralise its professional services staff.
The campaign opposing these changes argues that this centralisation will weaken the strong connection between administrative colleagues and the academic departments they support (teaching, research, and student support).
Many staff including academic as well as professional services staff are concerned that these changes are detrimental to what we provide to students and also harm the state of knowledge of East Asia in the UK, Europe and beyond. The proposed change to our specialist programmes and “significant” academic job cuts risks all of that. As does the separation of language teaching from the other important aspects of East Asian Studies degrees.
Lower staff numbers and more generalised modules will mean that students will also have less opportunities to study the range of disciplines and subjects currently offered at SEAS.
The result may be a less joined up and more disconnected degree, which the campaign believes could undermine the many decade history of excellence in teaching about East Asia. While staff are working hard to mitigate the damage, it is hard to see a reduction in staffing and expertise and the creation of divisions within the degree programmes as improving things for students and their education.
Q. I am an undergraduate in a School of East Asian Studies programme. What is happening to my course?
There won’t be any change to the current students. You will graduate with the program you are currently in, although potential staff departures may impact on what modules are available.
Students joining in from the 2026-27 academic year are likely to have different programs. This is still under discussion and being considered, so nothing is set, but please see the proposed changes in the above question.
Q. Why is restructuring happening to SEAS?
Management has stated: “We have seen a reduction in the number of students applying to some of our courses in East Asian Studies, so we are proposing some adjustments to reflect this. …We are proposing these adjustments to help secure the future of our excellent research, teaching and knowledge exchange in this field. The proposals are still at an early stage and we will be launching a full consultation with our staff in East Asian Studies shortly.”
This is even though the University of Sheffield continues to record annual budget surpluses.
No justification has been provided for the other changes other than that the university is seeking to make different courses all look the same structurally. No intellectual or pedagogical justification has been provided. No meaningful consultation has happened with East Asian Studies academic or teaching staff about these proposals.
Q. What will happen to teachers and staff?
The move to eliminate specialist undergraduate degrees in Japanese, Chinese and Korean, instead folding them into a combined East Asian studies programme would result in “significant” reductions in academic staff. Language teachers would move out of East Asian Studies into a separate teaching unit.
The university seeks to achieve cost cuts initially through targeted ‘voluntary’ severance, restructuring and compulsory redundancies if sufficient cost savings have not been achieved.
There will additionally be a centralisation of professional services staff as part of the plans.
Q. I am a student currently completing my foundation year with DLL. What will happen to my future degree come summer 2025 and I am meant to start my BA Japanese/Korean/Chinese Studies?
If you are currently doing your Foundation Year with DLL and are due to start one of our three specialist degrees in the summer 2025, we understand that you will progress to your specialist degree as planned. There may be fewer module options available due to possible staff changes, but the degree title will remain the same as the one you applied for and received your offer for.
If you choose SEAS at the University of Sheffield in 2026, you may have fewer options in terms of programs. The change of programs is still under discussion and we are still not told about the concrete plan of the programs from the next academic year at the time of writing.
Q. I am interested in doing a postgraduate degree in SEAS, what will be the change?
There will be a change in the postgraduate program from the 2025-26 academic year. There will be two programs available instead of three programs. One is the MSc program (East Asian Business MSc) and the other is the MA program (Politics and Media in East Asia MA). Further information is available here.
Q. I am a PhD student, what will happen to my supervisors?
If the university chooses to reduce the number of academic staff, this could potentially affect your PhD research. Since we are still unsure how compulsory redundancy will proceed, we don’t have any concrete answers. In the meantime, supervisors are expected to do supervision in a business-as-usual manner since we still don’t know how the restructuring will take hold and we continue to do our best to provide high-quality supervision.
Q. Is there anything we can do as students?
It is completely up to the student. But if you are interested in supporting the SEAS campaign, you may consider doing some or all of the following ways:
You may collectively get together with other SEAS students to campaign on issues you think are important. You can get help from your Student Union in doing this.
You can join the current Sheffield students' campaign against planned cuts - they are contactable on Instagram @anticutssheffield
You can collectively write letters to the Vice-Chancellor and the head of the faculty
If you are a constituent of Sheffield, you can write letters to your local MP.
Sign the petition and circulate the petition through your networks.
Spread the word through your networks (social media, etc.)
Check in with your teachers and lecturers, who are deeply worried about the future of the programmes they have built and love, as well as their own futures.