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

It was founded 75 years ago and stands just moments away from William Shakespeare’s childhood home.But the Shakespeare Institute is to be moved out of Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham, prompting an outcry from humanities scholars and its own director to announce he would be ‘resigning rather than aiding and abetting this move.’The institute is the University of Birmingham's centre for the study of Shakespeare. It will be moved away from the Warwickshire town synonymous with the playwright to the parent body’s Edgbaston campus for the start of the 2027-28 academic year.Its director, Professor Michael Dobson, said the decision had been made without consulting staff.In a message to faculty members, he wrote: ‘[On Thursday] the assembled faculty of the Shakespeare Institute were told by university management that as of September 2027 we are to leave the building the institute has occupied in the centre of Stratford since 1951.‘We were not party to this decision, and we were not allowed to inform it.‘I personally do not expect that the institute’s long-established MA programmes in Shakespeare studies will long survive the move (students tend to come to the institute because they wish to be in Shakespeare’s home town and close to the RSC [Royal Shakespeare Company], not because they have strong feelings about Birmingham), and without Shakespeare students to teach I fear my colleagues will soon be at risk of redundancy.’ Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon is situated just moments from the institute named after the playwright Professor Michael Dobson, pictured on the left at a Shakespeare birthday lunch two years ago, said he would resign rather than 'aide and abet' the move to BirminghamOn Sunday evening he told the Daily Mail the decision was ‘absurd’ and added that he had been inundated with ‘messages of support and outrage from theatre people and Shakespeare fans all over the world.’He said he planned to continue working until the end of the academic year but would ‘certainly not be moving to Birmingham.’The institute was founded in 1951 at the Grade II-listed Mason Croft building in the centre of Stratford, almost 400 years after William Shakespeare’s birth in 1564.The postgraduate research centre has worked with academics, writers and performers, including Dame Judi Dench, for decades.Its library contains about 60,000 volumes, archives, manuscripts, and audio-visual collections relating to the study of Shakespeare and Renaissance drama.The university denied the decision was taken to cut costs and stressed the institute’s collection would be kept intact and nothing would be ‘disposed of’. But academics lined up to condemn the move on social media.Adrian Hilton, an author and former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, called it ‘educational and cultural desecration’. Melissa Terras, professor of digital cultural heritage at the University of Edinburgh, said the decision was symbolic of wider ‘cultural vandalism’ in UK higher education. Grade II-listed Mason Croft, where the Shakespeare Institute opened in 1951 The study centre will move to the University of Birmingham's Edgbaston campus next summerWill Tosh, director of education at Shakespeare’s Globe, said on LinkedIn: ‘I cannot express in decorous words the folly of this decision, nor the profoundly negative impact it will have on current and future students and scholarship.’Manuela Perteghella, the Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-on-Avon, lamented the ‘shocking news’ and said she would write to the university to express her ‘deep disappointment’ with the decision.The University and College Union said the decision was evidence of ‘yet another humanities department under attack’ and warned the decision could ‘easily lead to redundancies and the cutting of programmes’.The institute celebrated its 75th birthday in July.During the celebrations, Dame Judi said she hoped it would go on ‘for another 75 years’.According to its annual report, in 2024-25 the University of Birmingham’s total income exceeded £1billion for the first time, up 16 per cent on the previous year (£1,092million from £945million).A University of Birmingham spokesman said: ‘We recognise how much the Shakespeare Institute’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon has meant to generations of students, staff and alumni, and to the town itself, and we understand the strength of feeling about this decision.‘This is an academic decision, not a cost-cutting measure. Shakespeare studies remains a priority for the University. ‘Our undergraduate Shakespeare teaching is already based at our Edgbaston campus, and from September 2027 the Institute will join it there, bringing our Shakespeare scholarship together in one place.‘Our Shakespeare MA programmes will continue to recruit for 2027/28, and we will support current postgraduate students and colleagues throughout the move.’He added: ‘We value our relationships in Stratford, including with the RSC and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and we will be talking with them, with local representatives and with the community in the coming weeks.‘No decision has been taken on the future of Mason Croft. It remains the Institute’s home for this academic year and will be kept secure and maintained.’