Language courses at Aberdeen University have been saved – but some lecturers still face losing their jobs as the number of courses is cut.
The ancient institution has become engulfed in controversy since announcing plans that could have seen French, German and Gaelic courses axed.
This would have left Aberdeen as the only ancient university in the world not to offer such degrees – and cost 18 people their jobs.
Some have worked there for more than 20 years.
And the move sparked uproar on an international level.
But the cash-strapped campus cited a “steep fall” in student numbers for the subjects, saying the courses in their existing form had simply become “unsustainable”.
That meant the department’s “income does not cover even the direct costs of staff”.
And it’s been running at a loss of £1.64m in the 2023/24 academic term.
Aberdeen University languages closure threat continues
It was in late October that worries about possible redundancies began to swirl around the Old Aberdeen campus.
University leaders said this would be a “last resort” as they battled to get a £15m deficit under control.
About a month later, modern languages staff were told they were at risk of ending up jobless.
Since November 30, there has been widespread outcry at the threat.
Blair Bowman, the founder of World Whisky Day and an Aberdeen University alumnus, said the “shameful” cut would make him “reconsider any philanthropic donations”.
The French, German, Spanish and Italian consulates in Scotland all wrote to principal George Boyne pleading for a change of heart.
And in an emotional message, politics lecturer Malcolm Hervey said his “pride in the university had turned to shame”.
He said he was “ashamed” of how staff and students had been treated, with their wellbeing “an afterthought”.
The Scottish Government also urged Aberdeen University to “carefully consider” its position.
General Secretary of the University and Colleges Union, Jo Grady, branded the move “academic vandalism”.
More than 13,000 people have signed a petition to save the courses.
The furiously penned call to action states: “If allowed to proceed, the ancient University of Aberdeen would be destroying degree programmes that have been in place for a century or more.”
French and German have been taught since 1898, while there has been a Gaelic offering since 1916 and Spanish courses since 1924.
Demonstration on eve of crunch meeting about cuts
Student newspaper The Gaudie reported that students are threatening to walk out -transferring their degrees to other universities – hitting both the university and the city in the coffers.
And amid rising tensions, the campaigning publication has highlighted soaring senior staff salaries and the thousands splashed on management trips to Qatar.
Ahead of crunch talks today, politicians, union leaders, staff, and students packed in to New Kings in a powerful demonstration against the cut threat.
UPDATE: @UCUScotland says it has carried out a consultative ballot of members at the University of Aberdeen. 81% would support strike action over proposed cuts to modern language courses. 87% support action short of a strike. @BBCNorthEast pic.twitter.com/GheDdI6aCx
— Phil McDonald (@philmcdonald94) December 11, 2023
U-turn on Aberdeen University languages at crunch campus meeting
This afternoon the University Court met to discuss the situation.
The governing body has “ultimate responsibility” for the institution – and is made up of nine student and staff reps along with 12 independent members, senior governor Julie Ashworth and rector Martina Chukwuma-Ezike.
During the secret talks, senior vice-principal Professor Karl Leydecker agreed to continue offering joint degree languages programmes.
However, while all modern languages courses will be available in this form in September 2024, single honours degrees will not be offered.
Single honours involve the study of just one specialist subject in a student’s final two years.
The change comes after just five students chose it this September.
Meanwhile, efforts will be made to recruit more students and redress the department’s £1.5 million deficit.
To allow this, the consultation period about redundancies has been extended for a month.
‘We will continue fighting’
One of the campaigners, a student in French and Spanish, told us: “This is a huge relief as we have won a lot of time.
“We have moved a long way from when the consultation was announced.
“It is clear that management have had their knuckled rapped, but we have zero idea what this means for our lecturers.
“We will continue fighting until the threat of compulsory redundancies goes away completely.”
And Rhiannon Ledwell from the Aberdeen University Students Association said the “tokenistic” extension period would be used to “fight against this cruel proposal”.
She added: “This outcome still leaves 50% of staff uncertain about their jobs, and leaves students uncertain about our degree provisions.
“If management think that this outcome will pacify us, they are mistaken.’
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‘We have listened to compelling arguments’
Prof Leydecker added: “The university absolutely understands how much our community and the wider public care about modern languages including Gaelic.
“We have always said that we will continue to teach languages at the university.
“We have listened to the compelling arguments about the importance of language degrees, continuing to be available in the north-east of Scotland.
“Like others in the sector, our university has a very challenging period to weather but we are working to build firm foundations to ensure a bright long-term future ahead.”
You can see the consultation on the Aberdeen University languages cuts here.
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