Politicians to join university protests in language cuts row

The protestors, led by UCU, will assemble on the green between the Bolland Library and Felixstowe Court on the Frenchay campus at 2pm for a 2.15pm rally.
 
Speakers at the rally will include Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bristol North West, Paul Harrod, along with messages of support from Liberal Democrat MEP, Graham Watson, and recent Green Party MEP candidate Ricky Knight. Following the rally, the protestors will make their way to the Felixstowe Court Board Room where the university's board of governors is meeting at 3pm. They will hand over a petition condemning the language cuts and lobby members of the board as they enter the meeting.
 
The university has announced that it has ceased recruitment to all specialist language degrees with immediate effect. The decision means that students who have already accepted unconditional offers for 2009 will no longer be able to follow their chosen course at UWE.
 
The decision was taken as a result of a Languages Review, the final report of which had been kept secret and was only released last week, following a Freedom of Information request from the union. By then action had already been taken to implement three of the recommendations and recruitment had ceased immediately in French, Spanish and Chinese.
 
The union points to a recent British Academy report on languages that underlined the incoherence of the UWE proposals to cut undergraduate language provision and further reduce the future pool of language teachers. UCU has warned that UWE is in danger of becoming a higher education 'black spot' with no specialist provision which will damage its credibility as a university. The union further warned that the cuts will seriously damage local schools.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'We are delighted, but not surprised, that politicians from across the political divide will be out in force condemning these unnecessary cuts by UWE. They understand the importance of education and the damage the closures would do for the university and the whole region.

'Cutting language courses while UWE is receiving funding to act as the lead institution in the South West's "Routes into Languages" project severely undermines the university's position and the message about the value and importance of languages that is being taken to hundreds of school students from Gloucester to Cornwall. UWE is absolving itself of its responsibilities to its local community and the West of England more generally.'