Richard - it's absurd to think you have to have a degree course in English Traditional Music to study regional English traditions - it shows a huge lack of understanding of university education. The scope at undergraduate level may be limited, but it's most certainly not at postgraduate level. My PhD research into Cumbrian folk song is with the history department of Lancaster University, and others have done important work in the field at Sheffield, Leeds, Aberdeen, Manchester and Hull ... and that's only the ones I know about.

I don't think English traditions are receiving less study than other national traditions at all: far from it. And in any case, there's such a crossover in all traditions that a case for 'national' boundaries is fairly spurious.