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Small subjects at risk: Calls for permanent support

What should happen to small subject disciplines if they fail to attract enough students? They can be important research fields that act as reservoirs of knowledge that help us understand and navigate through suddenly appearing conflicts and international events.

Every three years, a number of small university programmes in Denmark need to seek funding under a ‘small subject grant’ scheme, evaluated by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science’s Small Subject Council. In 2025, six small subjects at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) were granted financial support.

»We are, of course, pleased with the financial support provided through the small subject grants. The funding is first and foremost an important recognition of the significance of these subjects and helps ensure that there is more funding available to operate and develop them,« says Annika Hvithamar, head of the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS) at UCPH.

How the Small Subject Grants Work

A subject is classified as a small subject in Denmark if it has fewer than 20 students over a three-year period.

Small subject grants are applied for every three years. In the upcoming period, 14 subjects will receive financial support.

The grants support subjects that provide specialised knowledge of critical national, cultural, or economic significance.

Most small subjects receive an annual grant of DKK 1.6 million. For merged programmes, the grant this year is DKK 3.2 million annually.

It is a body called the Small Subject Council that recommends which programmes receive funding.

Source: Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science

In 2023, University Post reported that the subjects of Assyriology, Near Eastern Archaeology, and Egyptology had to share a single grant when the council that distributes funding released them for the 2022–2024 period.

Fast forward to January 2025, and the same subjects still share funding, albeit a grant almost double in size. The three UCPH subjects will now receive a total of DKK 3.2 million annually, compared to the DKK 1.7 million allocated in the last round.

»We have sought separate grants for these subjects, as they are distinct fields with unique languages and needs. While the Small Subject Council did not follow this recommendation, it is positive that we have now secured larger funding,« says Annika Hvithamar.

The total annual grant for small subjects in Denmark has increased from DKK 17 million to DKK 19.4 million. The increase has not only led to more funding for the subjects within the merged grant at UCPH, but has also enabled two additional programmes to be supported in the coming period.

This seems like good news, but small subjects are under pressure both in Denmark and across Europe, with several subject areas at risk of falling below the threshold and being classified as small subjects.

Too few students

For years, there has been widespread concern about the challenges facing small subjects. Annika Hvithamar wants to therefore start a discussion about how these programmes are classified in the first place.

»Many small subjects don’t get enough attention, which complicates the situation as they are not adequately supported,« she says. In Denmark, a programme is categorised as a small subject if it has 20 or fewer students over a three-year period.

Can we still classify subjects like German or French as small subjects, or is this a symptom of the more general challenges facing language programmes?

Annika Hvithamar, Head of Department at ToRS

»We see more and more of our programmes falling into the small subject category due to declining enrolment. But can we still classify subjects like German or French as small subjects, or is this a symptom of the more general challenges facing language programmes?« asks the department head.

According to Annika Hvithamar, declining student numbers determine both the public funding that a subject gets and whether it risks being classified as a small subject — and potentially facing closure.

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»We cannot and will not force people to study a subject. But in Denmark, the logic is that if there are not enough students, the programme ceases to exist,« says Hvithamar.

»This means we cannot permanently hire research staff because we cannot afford their salaries. Instead, we can only offer project-based positions, and once the project ends, the researchers move on. As a result, we lose academic continuity.«

Perspective needs to be shifted

Annika Hvithamar reckons that a new perspective on their role is needed to ensure the small subjects’ future.

»In Denmark, we need to agree on the purpose of small subjects. These are not just important research fields; they also serve as reservoirs of knowledge to understand and navigate sudden conflicts and international events. Yet they struggle to attract students,« she says.

Today, almost all language programmes are on the verge of being categorised as small subjects, according to Hvithamar.

»The question is whether Denmark can afford to do without research expertise on Poland, the Balkans, Turkey, and Italy. Even German, Chinese, and French enrolments are declining,« she adds.

»If we do not start this dialogue, we may soon face a situation where even more subjects require funding. And then what? Can we still prioritise Assyriology and Hebrew if the small subjects fund needs to cover all language programmes?«

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A European crisis

The closure of small subjects is not unique to Denmark. Across Europe, programmes are being shut down because student numbers determine whether a programme is financially sustainable, Hvithamar explains.

If it weren’t for the UCPH commitment to maintain a broad range of programmes, we would face the possibility of closures every three years.

Annika Hvithamar, Head of Department at ToRS

»In Denmark, universities get funding based on enrolment numbers. Without sufficient student interest, individual universities have to decide whether they can prioritise small subjects,« she says.

The wave of closures across Europe has led to the set-up of a German-French network to monitor small subjects across all universities in an effort to preserve vulnerable research fields. The network, called Kleine Fächer, aims to monitor all small subjects throughout Europe.

»The purpose is to ensure that small subjects do not vanish due to a lack of coordination between universities. With the closures we are seeing today, there is a real risk that subject expertise will disappear entirely from Europe,« says Annika Hvithamar.

Additionally, the small subject communities at UCPH collaborate with other universities in Europe to develop, share ideas, and even co-deliver teaching.

The dream of permanent funding

According to Annika Hvithamar, the subjects may be small in terms of student numbers, but they have immense significance:

»We are talking about major cultural heritage and security-related disciplines. What would we do, for instance, without Associate Professor Rasmus Elling, whose research focuses on modern Iran helps explain the situation in the country to the rest of Denmark?«

For this reason, the department head hopes that politicians will enter into dialogue with universities on preserving the research expertise in small subjects, even if there are no degree programmes directly linked to them. Hvithamar also dreams of greater recognition of the importance of these disciplines:

»Three-year grants are difficult to rely on. If it weren’t for UCPH’s commitment to maintaining a broad range of programmes, we would find ourselves waiting to see if we need to close a programme every three years because we didn’t get funding. I hope policymakers will consider setting up a long-term support scheme for small subjects and put them permanently on the government budget.«

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