"Save our languages": rally held in support of Aberdeen language degrees

Students, staff and politicians called on bosses the University of Aberdeen to rethink their proposals on cuts to the language department at a rally on Monday evening.

It was standing room only in the New King's building with people lining the isles of the lecture hall to show support in those fighting to save their language courses.

Speakers including MSPs, students and lecturers took to the stage to highlight their worries of potentially losing their language department.

It was revealed during the presentation the University and College Union held a consultative ballot on strike action with 81.3% of it's members saying they would be willing to stage a walk out in support of staff.

An ongoing consultation into the future of the degree courses has caused controversy across the country gaining the attention of EU consulates and politicians.

David Anderson, secretary of UCU's Aberdeen branch described the proposed cuts as "shameful".

He said: “This is an unprecedented attack on modern languages and on education. The way it has been done is shameful, perhaps even going against the guidance that the Scottish executive has given us on how to do consultations and how fair work should be planned out within an institution.

"This attempt at short notice to get rid of all modern languages at an ancient university is shameful for an institution such as this with such an international profile. It’s going to put the entire institution at risk.”

Last week the Senate overwhelmingly backed a call to the University's Court urging them to halt the consultation.

The court - the university's governing body - will meet on Tuesday to discuss the calls.

The university says it's facing a loss of £1.5 million each year and set out three proposed options, including axing modern languages altogether.

If this were to happen, the University of Aberdeen would become the only ancient university to not offer language degrees.

SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central Kevin Stewart called on the university to maintain it's well-known international reputation.

He said: “I think it’s really important to support people who feel the consultation is not the best that it can be and to ensure there is sustainable modern languages teaching here at the University of Aberdeen.

"I feel very strongly that Aberdeen is an international city, we have a good reputation internationally. I want to see language teaching being opened up. I think people recognise there are financial difficulties at this moment but this would be better resolved by everybody coming together to try and find a sustainable future for the teaching of modern languages at the University of Aberdeen.”

Green MSP Maggie Chapman said: "We’ve heard very powerful contributions this evening from students and staff members about the value of modern languages for our understanding of wider society, for the importance of studying languages - not just to learn vocabulary in another language, but for the insight into cultures and different societies that it gives us."

A statement from the University of Aberdeen reads: "The University absolutely understands how passionately colleagues, students and many members of the wider public feel about Modern Languages including Gaelic. The consultation on Modern Languages was launched to address the financial unsustainability of current provision (losses of over £1.5m a year). This is the result of low and declining recruitment to degree programmes in Modern Languages at Aberdeen.

"The University has always made clear that it will continue to teach and value languages, and we are grateful to all those who are sending us their views and ideas on how we can do this in a sustainable way. The University Court will discuss the consultation underway with regard to future provision in Modern Languages at its meeting on Tuesday 12."