University of Aberdeen to scrap single honours language degrees
The decision follows on from a meeting with the University's Court on Tuesday.
The University of Aberdeen has announced it will scrap single honours language degrees following a decline in enrolments.
It follows on from a meeting with the University's Court - their governing body - where they revealed joint honours degrees in languages will continue.
The decision means students will no longer be able to study French, Gaelic, German or Spanish as a stand-alone degree from September 2024.
This recommendation is based on the first of three options being considered as part of a consultation.
The consultation period has also been extended by one month to explore how they can increase student recruitment and make the delivery of provision more efficient.
It's as they face a ÂŁ1.5 million deficit for modern languages this year.
The university has blamed long decline in enrolments of the courses stating just five students in total joined the single honours programmes in Languages in September of this year.
Professor Leydecker, who chairs the Steering Group looking at language provision, said: “The University absolutely understands how much our community and the wider public care about Modern Languages including Gaelic.
“We have been heartened by the many offers of support and advice on maintaining degree programmes and the ideas that colleagues have brought forward to address their sustainability. We will also make concerted efforts to increase the uptake of the opportunities we offer to all our students to learn languages.
“As a result, we’re extending the consultation period by a month to allow time for further detailed discussions on how to grow demand and address financial sustainability.
“We have always said that we will continue to teach languages at the University. Today’s decision means that we will continue to offer joint degree programmes in Modern Languages, including Gaelic.
“We have listened to the compelling arguments about the importance of language degrees, continuing to be available in the north-east of Scotland. As a result, before the consultation period ends, we are homing in on the first option on the table in the consultation.
“Like others in the sector, our University has a very challenging period to weather but we are working to build firm foundations to ensure a bright long-term future ahead with language provision an important part of that.”