"I have never known such despair": A report on the continuing crisis at Glasgow University

Tue Mar 8 10:34:09 UTC 2011

The debate about the proposal  to close down most of Modern Languages in
Glasgow has in the meantime broadened considerably. It is now a debate about
authoritarian managerialism versus academic values. There have been motions
and questions presented in the Scottish parliament,  200 Glasgow academics
have made representations to the Scottish government, there is a vociferous
debate in the Scottish media about this issue.

Senior Management at Glasgow University have received more than a thousand
protest letters.

There has been sustained, critical coverage in the Scottish papers for
approximately a month now.

The main problem now is that Senior Management at Glasgow Uni is seen to be
acting authoritatively, without taking the views of the academic Senate into
consideration.  Members of the Senate have called for an Extraordinary
Senate meeting, which will take place on 18th March. This is an event which
has not happened for the past 100 years or so.

I would like to draw your attention to at least these recent media articles.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/i-have-never-known-such-despair-and-demoralisation-at-the-heart-of-the-storm-raging-at-glasgow-university-1.1088808
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/slavonic/Russell060311.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/26/glasgow-dons-unite
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/academics-in-bitter-attack-on-university-management-1.1087967

I am also enclosing a document, prepared by the School of Modern Languages
and Cultures, to explain the situation.

Please keep expressing support for Modern Languages at Glasgow, both to
Vice-Chancellor Muscatelli, to members of the University Court and to the
"kangaroo court" of "Glasgow university "consultation".

They apparently will only take into consideration letters which are sent to
this address:

consultation-modern-languages at glasgow.ac.uk

Thank you

Jan Culik

----

Please write protesting against the proposed Glasgow cuts  both to
Principal Anton Muscatelli and Secretary of University Court David
Newall (requesting him to circulate your letter to all Court members) by
traditional mail, i.e. on paper or on headed notepaper?

The postal addresses  are:

Professor Anton Muscatelli
Principal
University  of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Scotland, UK

David Newall
Secretary to the University Court
University  of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Scotland, UK

We would also like to ask you to consider emailing your protest to
several UK media outlets, individually:

Times: letters at thetimes.co.uk  -  they need your full address and a
daytime telephone number

Guardian letters at guardian.co.uk
Guardian Educational Correspondent: 	Jeevan.vasagar at guardian.co.uk
Glasgow Herald Educational Correspondent: Andrew.Denholm at theherald.co.uk
Glasgow Herald letters: letters at theherald.co.uk

Times Higher Educational Supplement

matthew.reisz at tsleducation.com
letters at tsleducation.com

and to the Scottish Education Secretary Michael Russell:

cabsecell at scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Michael Russell MSP
Scottish Education Secretary
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

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Information on proposed cuts to Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Glasgow
This document has been prepared by a group of colleagues from across the School.
The following is some contextual and financial information on the nature and scale of the proposed cuts in modern languages:
o	Alongside cuts in several other areas, College of Arts management proposes cuts of £750k in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. This is approximately one third of the annual general funds expenditure for the School of Modern Languages (c.£2.3m). At present, Modern Languages makes an overall surplus or gross contribution of around £2 million annually. In terms of the financial accounting used in the University, this represents a contribution level of between 40% and 45%, which is fully in line with expectations in the College of Arts. The School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC) is not a loss-making unit.
o	Within Arts, only the School of Humanities is targeted for savings of the same scale. Humanities is between two and three times the size of SMLC. (Humanities includes Archaeology, Celtic, Classics, History, Humanities Advanced Technology and Information, Philosophy).
o	According to communications from the Principal, £3m of savings are to be made from cuts to academic programmes across the board (An email from the Secretary of the University Court speaks of £2.5 m). This means that the Colleges target for SMLC represents at least 25% of the cuts to academic programmes across the whole University. SMLC currently has 33 established academic staff (at Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor and University Teacher grades). The disproportionate nature of these figures speaks for itself.
o	There must be some acknowledgment that the current position of SMLC has a historical background of sustained disinvestment over a period of strong student recruitment. Over the past decade, SMLC has lost around one third of its academic staff complement. This includes a number of senior retirements as recently as October 2010, giving significant cost reductions which management has refused to take into account in setting savings targets.
o	The range of options includes, at the most extreme end, withdrawing from honours provision in all language areas except French and Hispanic.
o	Even if other options are pursued (maintaining three or more language areas in some form), an overall reduction of £750k would represent a crippling cut in languages provision.

Range, Quality, Performance:
o	The School of Modern Languages at Glasgow provides students with high level linguistic knowledge and skills, alongside depth and breadth of cultural knowledge essential for real understanding. Language areas are: French, German, Hispanic, Italian, Slavonic (Czech, Polish, Russian). This includes innovative provision in comparative cultural and literary studies, stretching well beyond Western Europe, as seen in the distinctive Slavonic Studies degree programme. The Comparative Literature programme similarly is one of only a handful of such degree courses in the UK and its success is built on the breadth and range of cultural and research expertise in the School. The management proposals make no mention of these programmes, which have been central to the Schools recent development.
o	In the 2010/11 session, there were 2184 enrolled undergraduate students in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.  
o	In terms of undergraduate teaching, Modern Languages has scored highly in many areas in the National Student Survey in recent years, this despite heavy (33%) cuts already made in staff numbers at a time when student numbers across languages have been growing overall, with strong growth in some areas. There has been no evidence here of declining student demand for languages, often cited in the UK national context. The considerable success of Comparative Literature in the recent National Student Survey (98% satisfaction) reflects an ongoing process of innovative, flexible and effective reorganisation of provision in a hostile funding environment. This process has extended into the delivery of language-specific provision, with major reorganisation of 1st year literature and culture courses incorporating shared core lectures across the range of languages. This restructuring is now being extended to Level 2 courses, fulfilling the stipulations of the Universitys 2010 Review of!
  Modern Languages. 
o	Postgraduate recruitment was highlighted in the recent message from the University Court as an area of concern. However, interest in the new programmes developed in response to the 2010 Review (European Studies: Cultures, Societies and Languages in Europe and Beyond, Translation Studies: Modern Languages and Professional Practice) has been very promising. The Translation Studies programme (green-lighted by the Recruitment and International Office but delayed by College of Arts) is likely to be a key driver in future activity within the School as well as in terms of collaborative initiatives with other GU partners at this level.  
o	In terms of research, Research Assessment Exercise 2008 showed evidence of internationally excellent work in a number of areas, as well as of marked improvement in others, this set against a backdrop of staff losses that inevitably led to intense pressures in terms of administration and teaching in the run-up to that exercise. In some areas, performance has admittedly been disappointing, although this is being addressed in the context of a developing research culture at School level as well as in strong connections with other partners in the University, notably in the context of the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies, which has shown success in attracting external funding (a major grant, still running, is based on continuing provision in Slavonic languages). It should be noted above all that the new panel structure of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)  (the various language-specific submissions being replaced by a single global panel) represents a !
 radically changed landscape for research management in the School, an environment in which undoubted research strengths from across all language areas can now be deployed to their best advantage.
o	The importance of Modern Languages must be understood in the wider context of research and scholarship in the Arts and Humanities, where there must be concern about the effects a depletion in ML provision might have on our potential for research income generation (and, one might add, for our research environment, as it is to be judged in the forthcoming REF) (Prof John Butt, Gardiner Chair of Music).

Some broader contextual arguments, aired already in the public sphere, are summarised below:

On the importance of modern languages as an academic discipline:
o	The study of languages is fundamental to the prosperity, well-being, security and competitiveness of the UK (British Academy report, Language Matters More and More, February 2011). http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/news.cfm/newsid/460
o	According to a 2010 CBI survey, 71% of employers are not satisfied with the foreign language skills of young people in the UK, and 55% see shortfalls in their international cultural awareness.
o	The importance of language courses goes beyond linguistic training in a narrow sense: Rather, if they are to yield a cadre of trained and knowledgeable people who are able to understand and engage effectively with the local professional and business communities, such courses must include the study of the culture, politics, history and religion of the countries and regions in which those languages are used (British Academy report, Feb 2011)
o	European dimension: Monolingualism puts our young people at a competitive disadvantage in the European and UK context.
o	If language learning decline continues, we in the UK will become one of the most monolingual peoples in the world, with severe consequences for our economy, for business competitiveness, for international reputation and mobility and for community cohesion at home (Baroness Coussins, Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Modern Languages, 2009).

Languages education in Glasgow and the West of Scotland  approaching crisis point:
o	Strathclyde has been reduced severely: loss of Russian and German and full academic staff numbers in remaining areas reduced to around half a dozen in total.
o	Stirling: French and Spanish only
o	University of the West of Scotland (Paisley): phasing out languages
o	Glasgow Caledonian: no language degrees
o	Glasgow is the only university in the region offering full degree courses in a serious range of modern languages and cultures

The broader Scottish context:
o	University of Glasgow should pay heed to the broader needs of the society it serves before making strategic decisions.
o	University management is pre-empting political decisions on future funding of higher education in Scotland, which will follow Scottish Parliament Elections in May
o	Under cover of financial constraints, the management is pursuing its own strategic agenda of reshaping the University, pursuing among other things a policy of internationalisation which is primarily about high fee-paying overseas students, but which is not concerned about the international linguistic and cultural education of home students. 
o	Strategic need for expertise in foreign languages and cultures
o	Proposed cuts to range of courses would diminish a key cultural and socio-economic resource for the Glasgow region

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