Staff at University of Aberdeen balloted on strike action over language cuts
The university announced in December people would no longer be able to study single honour degrees in languages.
Staff at the University of Aberdeen are being balloted on potential strike action over cuts to modern languages courses.
The University and College Union (UCU) says around 30 members of staff are at risk of redundancy after the institution announced it would no longer offer single honours degrees in modern languages.
The decision means students will no longer be able to study French, Gaelic, German or Spanish as a stand-alone degree in the upcoming academic year.
The university said the decision was made due to a long-term decline in enrolments meaning the current model is not stainable.
Since the potential cuts were announced, the campaign to save the department has received support from staff, students politicians, and EU consulates.
A petition urging management to stop the consultation has gained over 15,000 signatures.
The UCU ballot on strike action will be open from January 3 until February 7.
Aberdeen UCU branch chair Dr Rachel Shanks said: "Modern languages is a key part of any university. Cutting single honours degrees from the university would mean students in the North and North-East having to leave the region to study their subject.
"For an ancient institution with the history and reputation of Aberdeen to consider this move is frankly embarrassing.
“It’s clear that this is just the start of senior management’s plans.
"It’s important that members send a clear message that we don’t accept the need for jobs to be lost and that we will stand behind and support any member whose job is threatened.
A consultation into the future of the department remains ongoing and has been extended until mid-February.
A spokesperson for the University of Aberdeen said: “Our difficulty is that this academic year, following longer term declining demand in the UK for traditional specialist language study, a total of just five students began Single Honours across our four Modern Language programmes including Gaelic.
"We understand many people care passionately about languages but in a challenging financial period for many universities, the high cost of running programmes with an average in each of just one new student a year is unsustainable.
“For this reason the University is consulting on how we develop a robust future for modern languages. Importantly Court, the University’s governing body, has also confirmed that we will continue to provide Joint Honours programmes in which students can, for example, study French or Gaelic with history.
"Court has also extended the consultation period until mid-February. During this period, we are engaging constructively with colleagues, students and UCU. We are very grateful to all those who have responded to the consultation.”