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We, the undersigned, deplore the approved closure by Oxford Brookes University of its degree programmes in German and Spanish, and its entire language provision in Italian.
This decision is ill-conceived and ill-timed. This is particularly true in the context of the identified national need for multi-lingual graduates to work in UK business, industry and the professions.
The measures announced at Oxford Brookes are totally at odds with the contents of the recently published National Strategy for Languages in Higher Education in the UK. Furthermore, an HE Funding Council report published in June 2005 identifies languages and area studies in higher education as ‘strategically important and vulnerable’.
Commenting on this report, Isabella Moore, Director of the National Centre for Languages, said:
'The supply of graduate linguists has been declining at a time when language skills are needed more than ever in the global economy. Much harm is being done to the prospects of UK graduates, who are unable to access international opportunities, as well as to Britain’s economy and international standing. In addition, employers such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence have difficulty recruiting UK nationals with specialist language degrees for work involving national security.’
The Department of Modern Languages at Oxford Brookes has, over the past few years, gone against the ongoing trend within the sector in terms of recruitment to degree level courses.
The quality of our teaching has been recognised by the Funding Council in its last Teaching Quality Assessment (average 21/24), and we scored highly in the 2001 Research Ratings (average of 4, with French scoring a 5).
Since the late 1990s, Oxford Brookes has consistently been placed in the top twenty UK universities for Modern Languages in the league tables published by The Guardian, the Times Higher Education Supplement and other quality press. The Department is currently rated 13th in the country in the Guardian 2005 University Guide, ahead of many Russell Group universities.
In light of the above, we urge the University management to reconsider its decisions on language degree provision at Oxford Brookes University.
This petition will be presented (in hardcopy and electronic format) to the Vice-Chancellor of the University at the end of October 2005. If you support our efforts to maintain languages degree provision at the University, please add your signature below. |
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This petition is sponsored by concerned members of staff in the Department of Modern Languages at Oxford Brookes University. |
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