Peter, if it is not to late, please add my name and affiliation as well. Thanks, Juergen ------------- Professor Juergen Barkhoff Registrar Registrar's Office East Theatre Trinity College University of Dublin Dublin 2, Ireland Tel.: 00353-1-8962066 Department of Germanic Studies Trinity College University of Dublin Dublin 2, Ireland Tel.: 00353-1-8961210 _____ From: JISCmail German Studies List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Schmitz, Helmut Sent: 19 June 2009 14:32 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: QUB letter Dear Peter, thanks for this. Could you please add my name/affiliation to the letter? Thanks! Best wishes, Helmut Helmut Schmitz Associate Professor of German Dept of German Studies University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL UK Tel. (0044) 2476-572524 email: [log in to unmask] _____ From: JISCmail German Studies List on behalf of Peter Thompson Sent: Thu 18/06/2009 19:08 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: QUB letter Dear all Below is the draft of a letter to the VC at Queen's University Belfast about the closure of German there. If you would like to add your signature to this appeal for a reconsideration of the decision then please let me know ([log in to unmask]) as soon as possible. Senate at Queen's is meeting on Tuesday and we need to get this appeal to them by the weekend. It would be good to be able to append the names of as many Heads of German as possible. Thanks in advance for your support Peter ----- The Vice-Chancellor’s Office Queen’s University of Belfast University Road Belfast BT7 1NN 17 June 2009 Dear Vice-Chancellor, As academics and university teachers of Modern Languages, we are dismayed to learn that Queen’s University is considering closing its Department of German. Qualifications in German, as in other major European languages, are highly important in order to make graduates employable in the international job market. Moreover, since German is integrated into a School of Languages, Literatures and Performing Arts, one component of such a School cannot be removed without damaging the viability of the rest. The Level 1 intake at Queen’s is regularly between 20-30 students. These students are on a joint degree pathway with other subjects; the majority are with French and are invariably of an extremely high quality. This number has held steady and even slightly increased over the years at a time when university student numbers for German have fallen in many other parts of the UK. The German area has been continually developing new and challenging courses to meet the needs of today’s students. Besides developing the syllabus, German staff at Queen’s have also been active in producing research of high quality. In the past year alone they have raised £100,000 in external funding: a £90,000 joint AHRC/DFG award for a 3-year collaborative research project with the University of Freiburg and £10,000 for two British Academy awards. They continue to publish material of high quality and it is difficult to see what grounds of academic policy there can be for ending an operation which is working successfully in difficult times. It is equally difficult to see an economic argument for closing a department whose small size – three lecturers and a DAAD lector – must make it relatively inexpensive. Foreign language competence is a vital part of the intellectual culture of a nation as well as its economic strength. The population of the German-speaking area of the EU numbers some 100 million and has long been one of our most important trading partners. German literature, music and culture together contribute to the common cultural reserves of Europe from which Britain is gradually removing itself. The decision to close German at Queen’s will only worsen the language skills deficit in the UK which – as was recently stressed in the British Academy’s position paper Language Matters – already damages the economic and cultural performance of the UK by comparison with most of its EU competitors. We urge you to reconsider this decision. Yours sincerely Prof. Ritchie Robertson, FBA, St Johns College Oxford Dr Peter Thompson, University of Sheffield Prof. Anne Fuchs, University College Dublin Prof. Karen Leeder, New College, Oxford -- Dr Peter Thompson Director, Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies http://shef.ac.uk/ernstbloch/) Senior Lecturer in German Department of Germanic Studies Jessop West 1 Upper Hanover Street Sheffield S3 7RA tel: 0114 222 4907 fax: 0114 275 1198 -- Dr Peter Thompson Director, Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies http://shef.ac.uk/ernstbloch/) Senior Lecturer in German Department of Germanic Studies Jessop West 1 Upper Hanover Street Sheffield S3 7RA tel: 0114 222 4907 fax: 0114 275 1198 Von einem gewissen Punkt an gibt es keine Rückkehr mehr. Dieser Punkt ist zu erreichen. Kafka