Unis should focus on societal needs, not enrolments

July 14, 2025

One would hope that universities would include consideration of society’s needs in decisions about which disciplines they wanted to house, not a simple examination of enrolment numbers.

If enrolments for mathematics and English courses declined at Macquarie University, Downton, Parkinson et al. would probably conclude that society no longer needs people who know the square root of zero or when it is legitimate to happily split an infinitive.

An appropriate response to declining enrolment numbers (assuming that is what Macquarie University has experienced in sociology) would be to ask whether the knowledge and skills taught by that discipline contribute to a thriving society and if so why numbers are declining.

That’s not to say that every university should cater to every conceivable discipline but it is to argue for sound decision making, honesty and transparency by university decision makers – factors not obviously present in Macquarie University’s decision to axe sociology.

I should declare that I have a PhD in sociology and consider the knowledge and skills gained by studying the discipline are at least as important for society as those gained from mathematics, languages, economics, business studies and many other disciplines, including medicine.