STUDENTS leading a sit-in protest against the closure of Middlesex University philosophy department have been evicted.

University managers served a High Court injunction on the protesters at 8pm on Friday to end the 11-day occupation.

Around 150 students had locked themselves into Mansion House at the Trent Park campus, in Bramley Road, since May 4 in an attempt to overturn the university's decision to close the Centre for Modern European Philosophy.

The students finally left the building on Saturday afternoon and joined a rally outside.

The closure has prompted criticism from leading academics across the country and more than 16,000 people have signed an online petition to save the department.

More than 12,500 people have also joined a Facebook group calling for the department's reinstatement.

In a letter to Times Higher Education magazine, a group of top academics claimed the decision would threaten subjects such as critical theory, aesthetics, Marxism and psychoanalysis.

Among the signatories were Slavoj Zižek, international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, and Alain Badiou, emeritus professor of philosophy at Paris's Ecole Normale Superieure.

Middlesex University University College Union (UCU) also passed a motion of no confidence in the management of the school of arts and education over the planned closure.

The Centre for Modern European Philosophy was the university's highest-rated submission in its last research assessment exercise and it is in the top third of philosophy departments in the UK.

The department is due to be phased out over the next two years, with no further recruitment of undergraduates or part-time masters students.

The university is one of dozens of higher education bodies across the country to slash courses after the Government announced budget cuts of almost £500 million next year.

A Middlesex University spokesman said the contribution and dedication of philosophy staff was "notable", and blamed the decision on insufficient demand for places.

There will be a Save Middlesex Philosophy demonstration at the Hendon campus, in The Burroughs, tonight from 6pm to 8pm.