‘Decisions to close or to gut particular departments have little to do with intellectual quality: they are invariably managerial choices about the quickest way to reduce an actual or predicted budget deficit.’ Stefan Collini on UK higher education, in the next issue. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

"The future of modern languages will not be secured simply by attempting to reverse falling demand. It will depend on expanding access to the point where demand can genuinely be expressed" by @anademedeiros.bsky.social and @marcecazzoli.bsky.social

East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.

Thrilled I've got 150 responses to my survey on personal tutoring! I'm aiming for 200 responses, so if you're an academic in UK HE who's had pastoral responsibility for students in the last five years, whatever that's called, with ten minutes spare, I'd love to hear from you. Do share if you can.

Today at 7 pm in the Trent LG Corridor, there will be a student-led exhibition responding to the closure of courses at the University of Nottingham, particularly Modern Languages and Music.

“We are concerned about the growing risk of geographic and subjectbased “cold-spots”, affecting areas and disciplines such as music and modern languages.” #Nottingham is a regional behemoth for the study of #languages - this is so stupid and short sighted publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...

Russian authorities have declared the NGO Memorial an “extremist organisation.” It now joins others already on the list, including “international LGBT+ movement” and Navalny’s ACF. Now, even reposting their materials or displaying their logo can result in a conviction. 1/4

At QMUL: - 99 language modules cut - 50 language modules marked as 'to be confirmed' - single honours language degrees in questions - 'possible futures' includes the closure of languages at QMUL altogether The harm done to language studies is immense, and ramifications are not going to be pretty.

'The University of Leicester is to close its film studies and modern languages degree courses to new students.' 'The university has confirmed the courses would cease, but declined to comment on the number of prospective students affected, saying the figure was "commercially sensitive".' 1/2

Have you had personal tutoring responsibilities in a UK HEI in the last five years? I'd love to hear from you! I'm running a short survey on interpersonal relationships & care within personal tutoring, which takes ~10 minutes to complete. Please do share: I'm keen to get a wide range of responses!

We are fast moving from cold spots to blackout. This is not trivial and the impact in terms of access to languages education will be inter generational. How do you “level up” or promote “growth” without a multilingual workforce and the know-how to deploy? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Few lower tariff unis offer languages, excluding people from under-represented backgrounds who can't travel far to uni. The Uni of Essex is a shining star, offering French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish. This is under threat! Read and sign 👇 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The University of Essex has proposed to discontinue most of their undergraduate language provisions as well as the Languages for All programme as part of large-scale restructuring. Sign their petition to urge the Executive Committee to reconsider the proposal: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

biggest solidarity to the Department ot Languages and Intercultural Studies (LINCS) at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh): heriotwatt.web.ucu.org.uk/2026/02/04/d... please sign their petition and send them any support they need, this is part of a UK-wide attack on languages education!

I will never not share the excellent digital preservation sweaters. #DHmakes 🧶💾🦖

All members are invited to our General Meeting next Wednesday, followed by a protest outside Senate at 1pm; on Wednesday, Senior Management will ask Senate to recommend the closure of Modern Languages and Film Studies.

I urge you to fill in this consultation if you can - with this very helpful support from Amnesty International - although AND because ! it is heart-breaking that this country has sunk so low that Amnesty suggest in a number of cases to provide no answer as the terms of the question are so evil

YOU SIGNATURE MATTERS! Help us save Modern Languages at Leicester. Sign the petition: www.change.org/p/save-moder...

This is a permanent research snd teaching post. Please share widely and forward to suitable candidates.

This was wonderful www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

'In a House of Lords debate on 8 January, Smith said she recognised “concern…about the reduction in the number of students going into higher education to study modern foreign languages and the threats to some of those modern foreign language courses”.' 1/2

'The institution currently has between 15 and 16 students for every staff member but wants to increase this to between 18 and 22 students, according to a “case for change” document recently shared with employees.' 5 faculties mooted to become 3 colleges.' 1/3

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Embassy concerned by under-threat language courses www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘If things carry on as they are, there will be very few opportunities for young people to study Music at university, and therefore hardly anybody training as music teachers, and the whole system will then be stuck in a vicious cycle of decline.’ thecritic.co.uk/a-discipline...

I cringe at this kind of disingenuous justification from Nottingham U. "Students are telling us that the way they want to learn languages is changing... we currently have almost 2,000 students studying languages as part of their degree through our Language Centre" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Suspending music courses will have a devastating impact on musical life at the University, as well as future courses, job, and career opportunities across Nottingham and the wider East Midlands 👇 Read our open letter to the University

⛔ Second statement in one week #saveleicesterml #saveleicesterlanguages Following last week’s formal letter to the University of Nottingham, AHGBI has now issued a second statement—this time to the University of Leicester—regarding the proposed closure of its Department of Modern Languages.

Protest over future of university language courses www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘the progressive closure of foreign language degree programmes is especially worrying because of the desperate need for language skills in government’

"Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story" - Bob Dylan in Killarney, 24th of November 2025 johnnyborgan.blog/2025/11/25/s... via @johnnyborgan

I’ve been quoted in @thespectator1828.bsky.social about the importance of taking a strategic approach nationally to language provision as universities are making individual decisions to slash provision which may collectively be very bad for the national interest www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-p...

Nottinghamshire MPs have written to @uniofnottingham.bsky.social, urging the university to reconsider proposed course suspensions and potential closures, which would significantly impact staff, students, and our wider city and county.

'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2

University of Nottingham Council meets on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 to decide on the proposal to close modern languages degrees www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/home#how-you...

AHGBI, led by Professor Sarah Wright, opposes the University of Nottingham’s move to suspend—and effectively close—all Modern Languages degrees. SRUK/CERU, led by Dr Carlos Soler Montes, has also raised concerns. AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration. #SaveNottinghamLanguages

Colleagues and UCU members from UoN's Department of Modern Languages have put together this wonderful guide on supporting their programmes. A lot of what they suggest is also helpful in challenging the 48 courses at risk across the university www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk

Help save Modern Languages at UoN!

Save Modern Languages at the University of Nottingham www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk

www.change.org/p/stop-the-r... www.change.org/p/save-moder...

Happening everywhere - not just Nottingham but also Leicester now. On the horizon: more cold spots in languages provision and (crucially) access to HE language teaching for those who need to study close to home. We should be widening access, not narrowing it. Solidarity to colleagues affected ✊

Times Higher article out today explains the folly of yet more proposed closures in languages (also music, film, philosophy, and others). This time at the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham. Oversight of the changing UK HE landscape for our disciplines has never been more needed or vital.

‘given that the UK needs more graduates with languages qualifications, the task of universities is not to accelerate the decline of language learning but to find ways to bolster their student intakes’ www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/late...

'The threat to languages is particularly ironic given Nottingham’s strategy, which promises a vision of a “university without borders” and Leicester’s “Citizens of Change” agenda, aiming to promote global citizenship and inclusivity'. Global but monoglot: how's that supposed to work?

Every university should renovate the disciplinary framework of its courses and ask whether it is responding to its global responsibilities. But no university should recognise any merit in withdrawing from the study of other languages, cultures & societies www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/late...

In the same week, both the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester announced closing their Modern Languages departments. Disastrous for the sector as a whole and for the ML landscape in the Midlands: c.org/4X7VMy9MPD

The decision to cut all language programs at the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester will be the final nail in the coffin for many potential applicants' languages education, leaving no languages degrees in the East Midlands.

When is this going to stop? Save Modern Languages at the University of Leicester 👇