Five UK research centres for language studies announced

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded from edling list

http://www.researchresearch.com/news.cfm?pagename=newsStory&type=default&elementID=62761

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.