[EDLING:1644] Five UK research centres for language studies announced

[Francis M. Hult]

ResearchResearch

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Five research centres for language studies announced 
 
Five new language centres were launched today as part of a £25 million 
Language Based Area Studies initiative. The initiative is funded by the Higher 
Education Funding Council for England, the Economic and Social Research 
Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Scottish Funding 
Council.  

The centres will focus on the Arabic-speaking world, China, Japan and Eastern 
Europe, including areas of the former Soviet Union. 

In a joint statement the chief executives of the research and funding councils 
said, “These five new centres are a solid investment that will help to develop 
and enhance the research base within area studies, ensuring that it 
contributes fully to the economic development and quality of life for the 
people of the UK and beyond.”

The five new centres include a teaching and research facility on China, which 
is a collaboration between the universities of Oxford, Bristol and Manchester. 
Also a research centre looking at Eastern Europe and Russia based at Glasgow 
University, and a centre studying the Arabic-speaking world, which is a 
collaboration between the universities of Edinburgh, Durham and Manchester. 

The universities of Leeds and Sheffield will create an international centre of 
excellence in research and training on Japan and China, and a centre for East 
European and former Soviet Union language based area studies will be led by 
University College London.