A LEADING city archaeologist is "shocked and devastated" at the University of Worcester's decision to scrap its Archaeology degree.

Five members of staff face redundancy after the university announced the news on Tuesday, that it would be "teaching the degree out".

Dr Jodie Lewis, course leader and archaeologist, is saddened at the decision which will mean the degree will no longer exist by July 2022.

She said: "I am shocked, saddened devastated and concerned for myself and my colleagues. I am also very concerned for our current students who haven't been consulted in this procedure.

"The option to suspend studies due to personal reasons has been taken away from them because there would be no degree to come back to."

Dr Lewis said staff were told last year that the university was suspending student recruitment due to concerns over appropriate numbers to keep the course financially viable.

The course currently has 13 under-grad students and three post-graduate students.

She said: "In essence to me, it feels as though they had made the decision then, but didn't tell us. They made it very clear it was only a suspension, but then went on to suspend for 2021 and 2022. We were then encouraged to come up with proposals for a new degree which might attract more students - which we did in some of our free time."

From January next year, Dr Lewis said that all five teachers of the course will not be required to teach the final term.

She said: "I'm aware redeployment will be explored, but I'm not sure how they'd redeploy five archaeologists if there's no archaeology degree. It's a lot to process the fact we're going to be made redundant and the course is going to be closing

"The construction industry is dependant on having enough archaeologists to fulfill the planning commissions - it's like they don't care about the national economy - all they care about is the university economy."

Aodhàn Smyth, archaeologist for Wychavon and Malvern Hills district council said the decision was "madness".

He said: "We need more archaeologists. When Brexit happened we lost 25% of our field staff overnight. If they take away the degree, we're not going to get new archaeologists in the county which will affect planning schemes and infrastructure in the future.

"I would have done my doctorate at the university as all the work I do is local, but there's no way I can do it without the course, as my area of interest is Worcestershire."

Chris Whitwood, director of the Campaign to Save British Archaeology, said: "It is absolutely appalling to witness Britain’s world-leading status in archaeological teaching and research being eroded before our eyes.

"The closure of university archaeology departments across the United Kingdom is nothing short of cultural vandalism.

"This must halt. We call upon the University of Worcester to reconsider this decision in order to protect our shared heritage.

The university said the decision was made following a decline in interest in the course.

A spokesman said: "We have very regretfully taken the decision to close the remaining offer in this subject.

"We have made strenuous efforts to attract applicants but, despite all the efforts of the colleagues concerned and the work of the University as a whole, the trend away from studying Archaeology has proved to be deep seated and there is no alternative but to close the offer of our Archaeology courses".