Thanks to everyone for this great collaborative effort! Keep it going till Tuesday!
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From: JISCmail German Studies List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patrick Stevenson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 June 2009 12:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: German at QUB
Excellent letter from Frank. I hope it will be published. I too have written individually to the VC at QUB, and everyone in German here at Southampton has asked to have their names included on the open letter. I very much hope that all German departments / sections will do the same.
Best wishes
Patrick
Professor Patrick Stevenson
Modern Languages
School of Humanities
University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
tel.: +44 23 8059 3830
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From: JISCmail German Studies List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frank Finlay
Sent: 19 June 2009 11:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: German at QUB
In response to Peter’s letter, please add my name and Leeds affiliation (I have written separately to QUB on behalf of AGS). Below, something a little more polemical, also on behalf of AGS, which might find its way into next week’s Times Higher. Might I suggest that we use Peter’s letter as the basis for a letter of protest to the Times – with as many signatories as possible
In the meantime I would encourage colleagues, particularly Heads of Departmeny, to liaise with their own institution’s press office and exploit the latter’s media contacts to try to publicise what is going on in Belfast.
Best,
Frank
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From: Frank Finlay
Sent: 19 June 2009 11:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: letter for consideration
Dear Letters Editor
I would be grateful if you would please consider the following text for inclusion on your ‘letters page’ in next week’s Times Higher Education.
With best wishes,
Frank Finlay
Recent weeks have seen a new wave of anxiety concerning the health of modern languages in the UK at all levels of education. The decision to protect QR funding for STEM subjects has hit language departments particularly hard at a time when, as the British Academy has warned in a stark report, the very capacity of the UK’s research base is being compromised by a deficit of language competence. Surely government ministers ought to be sensitive to what is at stake: the marginalisation of UK researchers, a reduction in our ability to tackle global challenges such as terrorism and trans-national crime, and a loss of competitive edge with parlous consequence for the vaunted ‘knowledge economy’. How comforting it is, therefore, to read in the ‘Education Strategy’ of Queen’s University Belfast that ‘the content and delivery of [its] curriculum is challenging and inspirational, equipping students for life in a global society and work in a global economy.’ Rather less comforting is QUB’s intention to cease its German provision, the language of some 100 million people and one of the world’s largest exporters. While HEFCE’s impending review of modern languages is welcome in this context, it is to be hoped that its precipitate haste will allow something more than merely the re-stating of a case that continues to fall on deaf ears.
Professor Frank Finlay, President, Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland (formerly CUTG).
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