About CCUE

The Council for College and University English was founded in 1993 to promote the study of English in higher education, and to provide opportunities for English lecturers to meet colleagues from other institutions and discuss matters of shared concern. CCUE is the main professional body consulted by funding bodies and other agencies when they wish to gauge the views of the English subject community.

CCUE holds two meetings a year, a two-day Annual General Meeting in Spring and a one-day Ordinary General Meeting in early December. All members are invited to these meetings. CCUE is run by an Executive Committee which meets more frequently to arrange these events, liaise with other professional organisations, and arrange consultations with its members. Elections to the Executive are held at the AGM.  The current chair is David Duff. A full list of Executive officers and members, with contact details, can be found on the link to the right.

Because of its broad representation and policy of active consultation with members, CCUE has considerable influence in key areas of educational policy. For example:

• CCUE had a formative influence on the membership of the REF 2014 panel and of previous RAE panels. Our recommendations help to shape the policy of the English sub-panel and to ensure that its deliberations remain in touch with a wide swathe of subject community opinion.
• CCUE played a leading role in establishing the Subject Benchmark Group, whose membership was devised after consultation with CCUE members. This ensured the group was responsive to the needs of the subject community and that the benchmark statement was neither too restrictive nor prescriptive.
• CCUE has remained in positive dialogue with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and its forebears to ensure as far as possible that audit remains responsive to and informed of the concerns of the subject.
• CCUE holds regular communication with the Qualification and Curriculum Authority to ensure communication between the secondary and tertiary sectors. This has involved, for example, close consultations over 'A' level developments.
• CCUE presented evidence to the Dearing Committee on behalf of English and the Humanities, and submitted a special paper on 'The Contribution of Higher Education to the National Cultural, Spiritual and Moral Life', an area almost entirely neglected by institutional responses to the consultation.
• CCUE is campaiging to defend the interests of English in changes resulting from the Browne Report and the recent White Paper on Higher Education. See our Current Consultations page.

Through its affiliation with the European Society for the Study of English,CCUE also provides a link to English lecturers in other countries. CCUE is represented upon the Board of ESSE, and the President of ESSE is regularly invited to speak at the AGM of CCUE.  

Membership of CCUE is by departmental subscription. To take out a subscription, click here.