A proposal to separate Archaeology from HSPS into its own Tripos has been given widespread support by prominent academics within the university.

As Varsity reported last month, Archaeology is expected to become its own Tripos in 2017, with proposals for the split from HSPS being discussed just two years after the first HSPS students matriculated.

During a discussion on the issue recorded in the Cambridge Reporter, Professor Allmendinger, Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, supported the proposal and said that the structure of HSPS “deters excellent students” who want to specialise in archaeology and has led to an “apparent dilution of interest” in the subject, recommending that the university accept the recommendations of the General Board’s report.

Arguing similarly, Professor C. Broodbank, the Head of Archaeology within the University, said that the “primacy of undergraduate archaeology at Cambridge” had been “diminished” and “lost to Oxford”, and that it needs to be a “thriving and visible component” of Cambridge’s offering.

Allmendinger added that the proposed Tripos, which Professor Broodbank says will be “highly successful” and “game-changing”, was “fully supported” by the involved faculties and by the management of HSPS, the Chair of the latter recognising during the discussion that “the profile of archaeology” had “suffered”.

As the plans stand, Archaeology would be both a new Tripos and remain a module within HSPS, with a flexible arrangement whereby students can move from the latter to the former if they wished to specialise later on.

One academic stated that the planned changes will “revitalise” the teaching of the subject at Cambridge.