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Shakespeare Institute to be moved out of Stratford-upon-Avon, prompting a vow from its director to resign rather than ‘aid and abet’ the move
The University of Birmingham plans to move its Shakespeare Institute from Stratford-upon-Avon to its Edgbaston campus for the 2027-28 academic year. The decision has prompted criticism from scholars and cultural figures, while the institute’s director, Professor Michael Dobson, says he will resign rather than help carry it out.
Founded in 1951, the postgraduate centre is based at Mason Croft, near Shakespeare’s childhood home, and has long offered programmes in Shakespeare studies. Dobson fears students may be less likely to enrol in Birmingham, putting courses and staff at risk. The university says the move is not a cost-cutting measure and that the institute’s collection of about 60,000 books and other materials will remain intact.
In short
- The institute is due to leave Stratford for Birmingham in 2027.
- Its director says he will resign rather than support the move.
- The university says its 60,000-item collection will be kept intact.
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The case for
Moving the Institute to Edgbaston could bring its teaching, staff and library into closer contact with the university’s wider academic community and resources. The university says the collection will remain intact and that the move is not a cost-cutting measure, so it may be possible to sustain the Institute’s work while organising it more effectively within the university.
The case against
The Institute’s location in Stratford-upon-Avon connects its scholarship and student experience directly to Shakespeare’s life and the town’s cultural institutions, a setting that may be difficult to reproduce on a university campus. If that distinctiveness helps attract postgraduate students, moving could weaken enrolment and put courses or staff at risk, as its director fears, while also diminishing a longstanding scholarly presence in the town.
Explained simply
The Shakespeare Institute is a postgraduate centre run by the University of Birmingham, founded in 1951 and based in Stratford-upon-Avon. It offers courses and research in Shakespeare studies from Mason Croft, close to the town’s historic links with the playwright.
The University of Birmingham also has its main campus in Edgbaston, and says the institute’s books and other materials will be kept together. The debate centres on whether moving the centre could affect student interest, courses and staff, and on the role Stratford’s setting plays in the institute’s work.