enrollments

[christina kramer]

I am quite interested to read the responses to this query.  The
University of Toronto has experienced many of the same problems - but
with the added twist that Toronto is the home of many speakers of
Slavic langauges which has a profound influence on enrollment figures.
First year Russian numbers are down - 33 this year, about comparable
to last year.  Second, third and fourth each have somewhere between 20
and 25 students.  All students taking Russian must write a placement
test in our department if they have not taken first year with us.  In
addition, students in first year must sign a statment that they are
neither native speakers of Russian, nor have they completed high
school training in Russian - a problem given the large numbers of
Polish students, for example, in our program.  While we are able to
control the placement of native speakers, we do have a problem finding
a balance between absolute beginners and those who bring considerable
knowlede due to home use of another Slavic language.  Other Slavic
courses are doing well, there are over 25 students in second year
Polish, 22 students in Serbian/Croatian, etc.  I was interested to
hear that other universities have also been stung by the introduction
of freshman seminars.

Christina Kramer
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
Kramer at epas.utoronto.ca