Dear colleagues
Please find below a briefing on the situation at Heriot Watt, Edinburgh. A petition calling for no compulsory redundancies can be found here and features many relevant comments from language graduates and staff in particular
https://www.change.org/p/no-compulsory-redundancies-at-heriot-watt?source_location=minibar
I am sure that any support you can offer will be gratefully received by colleagues there. Our subject is under great pressure nationally and if we fail to support it I am genuinely concerned that we will lose it. All the information you should need for letters of support is below.
Letters regarding the Heriot-Watt situation can be sent to:
Professor Richard A Williams, University Principal and Vice-Chancellor
EBS South Pod, Edinburgh Campus
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS
Email: [log in to unmask]
Professor Robert MacIntosh, Head of School, School of Social Sciences
Room 21, Esmée Fairbairn Building
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS
Email: [log in to unmask]
National reports on language skills and employment can be found here:
British Chambers of Commerce survey (2013) on language skills deficit:
British Academy ‘Born Global’ (2013-2015) at http://www.ucml.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pages/6/Born%20Global%20Launch%20Presentation%2023%2009%20%282%29.pdf
British Council ‘Languages for the Future’ (2013):
https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/press/report-shows-deficit-languages-uk-needs-most
Briefing:
In March 2017, senior management informed staff of financial pressures Heriot-Watt University faces as a result of a number of factors such as the “Brexit effect”, which push it to introduce a cost-cutting programme. This programme aims at saving the equivalent of 6% of the university’s income over the next two years, the equivalent of approximately £14 million. This is to be achieved through a variety of measures including a voluntary redundancy scheme designed to cut approximately 100 academic and professional services posts across the institution, followed by a recruitment freeze and not filling vacancies arising from resignations and retirements with a view to cutting another 100 posts. These staffing reductions are being sought at a time when the university is engaged in an extensive building and refurbishment programme and spent £9 million on consultancy services.
The voluntary redundancy scheme closed on 15 May 2017. While around 300 members of staff offered to leave and other cost-cutting measures put forward by the Unions were not fully explored, senior management have repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of compulsory redundancies further down the line.
The Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies (LINCS) will be significantly impacted with six out of 45 colleagues (ca 38.3 FTE) taking voluntary redundancy. German will be disproportionately affected. The section, which currently consists of 4 full-time and 3 part-time colleagues, will lose 1 full-time and 1 part-time colleague as early as the end of June 2017. It is also unclear whether the temporary contract for one part-time colleague will be renewed. Yet redundancies in this language section inevitably have repercussions for other sections, including culture studies, as German staff normally contribute to a wide range of non-language specific courses which are delivered across sections. The Department was told last week that in order to meet cost savings targets which are not transparent at School/Department levels, LINCS would have to dispense with up to four further posts by the end of 2018. There are now serious fears that any further redundancies could prove fatal to the viability of spoken modern language, interpreting, translation and culture studies teaching and research at Heriot-Watt.
For nearly 50 years, the Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University has been one of the leading providers of translator and interpreter training in the UK, and now specialises in the fields of translation and interpreting studies, as well as (inter)cultural studies (including living cultural heritage, language policy and intercultural communication). It is one of only four departments nationally to be granted membership by CIUTI (Conférence Internationale Permanente d'Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes), and it has just received significant investment from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in the form of a fully-funded German language assistantship (9 months) for the academic year 2017/18.
LINCS offers a suite of attractive programmes involving French, German, Spanish, Chinese and BSL and consistently recruits around 120 UG and 60-70 PG students from the UK, Europe, China and the Middle East per year. Over the years, LINCS students have been highly successful in winning competitive scholarships, such as the prestigious RISE (Research in Science and Engineering) and summer school scholarships offered by the DAAD. Moreover, at a time when numerous reports from institutions such as the British Chamber of Commerce, the British Council, the British Academy and many others repeatedly highlight the cost to the British economy of the lack of language skills, a degree in translation, translating & interpreting or business with a language equips students with the skills and qualifications that open many doors. LINCS graduates work as translators or interpreters for international organisations such as the UN, the EU, the WTO, or large international companies such as L’Oreal, KPMG or Santander to name but a few. They also establish themselves as successful freelance interpreters (a number of whom have secured AIIC accreditation) or freelance translators or found positions in governmental bodies such as Scottish Parliament, or the Bundesbank. Some established their own companies, while other work for international media groups such as Reuters or France 24. Thanks to the solid academic and professional reputation of LINCS, many students actually secure such positions at an early stage, sometimes even before the completion of their final exams, and numerous employers contact the Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies directly in order to recruit its graduates.
Given the wider political context in which the UK and Scotland in particular find themselves, it would be short-sighted to endanger the continued healthy presence of modern European languages at Heriot-Watt University through further redundancies. The capacity to understand and communicate effectively with our international neighbours is one that will be needed more than ever in years to come.
Very best wishes to all,
Sarah