Statement on the proposed suspension of recruitment to all undergraduate programmes at the University of Nottingham

By the UK and Ireland branch of IASPM, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music
8 December 2025

The Executive Committee of IASPM UK and Ireland collectively express our deep concern over the University of Nottingham’s recent decision to suspend recruitment to all undergraduate programmes in music, risking permanent closure of all music degrees at the University.

As representatives of the largest association of popular music researchers in Europe, we call on the University to reverse this decision and engage positively with its staff and students to find a solution that secures the department’s future and respects its significant achievements across all domains of music including popular music studies.

This issue comes at a fragile time when higher education arts programmes in the UK are acutely economically strained, with music departments recently closing at Oxford Brookes and Kent universities, among other cuts and redundancies. Yet music like all the arts is a vital aspect of the social and economic fabric of our society, not least during periods of crisis.

If approved at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, this decision would end over a century of music education in the East Midlands, offered continuously since the institution opened in 1881. The Department of Music at Nottingham celebrated 100 years as a dedicated unit in 2024.

In making this statement, we join the many calls already being made by MPs and thousands of students, colleagues, and musicians urging the University of Nottingham to protect music education.

IASPM UK and Ireland

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To support the affected staff and students and learn more, see the following resources:

Protect UoN Music website https://protectuonmusic.com

Change.org petition https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-suspension-of-undergraduate-music-courses-at-the-university-of-nottingham

Statement by the Royal Musical Association https://www.rma.ac.uk/2025/11/17/statement-from-the-royal-musical-association-on-the-proposed-suspension-of-recruitment-to-all-ug-music-programmes-at-the-university-of-nottingham