To read or not to read: do university students still need books for their courses?

I assumed university meant reading the book, all 300-ish pages of it, and arriving at the seminar looking like I understood it. My copy of Beowulf is currently collecting dust at the back of my wardrobe; it became an embarrassing reminder of money spent on a book I barely touched after attempting more than a few pages in first year. 

A 2016 study by M.M. Kerr and K.M. Frese found that only 20-30% of undergraduates completed required readings, despite leading academics considering them essential for learning. Ten years on, it’s hard to imagine the numbers have suddenly become much better. Just ask your mates after a few weeks of lectures. 

Perhaps this says less about students avoiding reading and more about what we actually expect reading at university to look like. Academic Officer, Anushka Sonwane, says she would not want students to think that “good academic engagement is simply measured by how many books they have finished”. Depending on your course, module and learning outcomes, reading might mean studying a text closely, selecting relevant parts or using several sources to understand an argument. 

In other words, reading more doesn’t always mean reading better. 

The reasons students don’t finish their reading lists aren’t mysterious. Reading competes with lectures, seminars, deadlines, revision, jobs, commuting, social lives and the practicalities of accessing the material, all while trying to avoid Fresher’s Flu. Though libraries and e-books help, buying several £10-£40 academic books for a handful of chapters is hard to justify, especially when the local pub has already broken the bank. 

Blackwell’s, just outside of campus, has adapted to this reality. The bookshop has moved away from offering discounts across entire reading lists, now offering 15% off individual non-discounted books at the beginning of term. Store manager Jonny Woollett says the approach is to support students who “would rather not purchase the whole course list at once (or at all).”

Then AI crashes in. If a chatbot can summarise a chapter in seconds, why should I bother reading it? Well, getting the gist of something isn’t quite the same as knowing what you’re talking about. Anushka points out that students still need to “understand where an argument comes from, evaluate the quality of the source and engage with the original material”, rather than relying on AI slop. 

With 2026 named the National Year of Reading by the Department of Education and the National Literacy Trust, perhaps university reading lists need a rethink too. Not fewer expectations, but shorter and more realistic lists that students can actually engage with. Maybe then, Beowulf will finally get its day.