I studied an MA at York in 2022-2024. The course was sophisticated and rigorous; the choice of modules was ample, and students could specialise as and how they wished. The teaching was of a high quality. What wasn’t of such a high quality, regrettably, were the students. So often a seminar could be punctured by the drop of a pin, so quiet was the room. Simply put, students didn’t participate. The kind of stimulating discussion you hope to have at a university – it was absent, or at least it was from those seminars I attended. I found it a real shame. The extent to which it reflects on the University or the modern student is another question.