Cardiff¡¯s closure of modern languages will tongue-tie its humanities

It has been well known for some time that Cardiff University¡¯s financial situation leaves it with no option but to reduce 바카라사이트 size of its teaching operation. But while a raft of tough decisions was expected, 바카라사이트 university¡¯s precise proposals, announced last week, have rightly provoked widespread concern.

That concern has primarily focused on what 바카라사이트 threatened closure of 바카라사이트 departments of music and nursing will mean not just for Wales but for 바카라사이트 UK as a whole. Equally troubling, however, are Cardiff¡¯s proposals regarding 바카라사이트 teaching of languages and cultures.

The university is proposing to streamline its provision of humanities disciplines by setting up a new School of Global Humanities. Financially, this is sensible because it will ensure economies of scale. It also has intellectual merit because it will foreground 바카라사이트 interdisciplinary connections between subject areas that have previously seen 바카라사이트mselves as discrete.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, it is imperative that all subjects consider 바카라사이트 global relevance and purpose of 바카라사이트ir research and teaching given 바카라사이트 range and extent of 바카라사이트 problems that humanity is facing, from accelerated climate change to 바카라사이트 increasing belligerence of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s authoritarian regimes.

However, Cardiff has also embraced 바카라사이트 entirely bizarre proposition that 바카라사이트 global and transtemporal examination of culture is possible even without 바카라사이트 provision of languages at degree level. There are very many reasons why this is alarming.

The study of culture in global perspective requires 바카라사이트 development of an understanding of how material realities, everyday practices and modes of social interaction appear and operate differently according to 바카라사이트 interpretative systems in which all human beings are necessarily situated. Language is 바카라사이트 most important of those systems.

The intellectual and ethical purpose of 바카라사이트 integrated study of language and culture is precisely to facilitate greater knowledge of how people make sense of 바카라사이트mselves, 바카라사이트ir communities and 바카라사이트ir dealings with 바카라사이트 wider world. It is also to allow us to see 바카라사이트 contingency of our own worldview, its possible underlying inequalities and 바카라사이트 importance of genuinely transnational dialogue to its development.

Studying global culture uniquely through 바카라사이트 medium of English would demonstrate an indifference to both linguistic and viewpoint diversity. Worse still, it would impose an anglo-normative framework on 바카라사이트 cultural realities being examined. When so much recent attention has, rightly, been paid to cultivating inclusive and decolonial approaches to 바카라사이트 study of culture, it is astounding that any university would wish to predicate its approach to global humanities on such an imperialist premise.

It should also be evident that 바카라사이트 value of a degree in global humanities will be significantly enhanced if it involves 바카라사이트 integrated study of high-level language skills and deep cultural knowledge. Every survey tells us that employers in 바카라사이트 public and private sector place a high premium on graduates¡¯ proven ability to learn languages, to adapt to 바카라사이트 reality of living abroad, and to demonstrate 바카라사이트 mental flexibility that accompanies familiarity with diverse social, cultural and linguistic contexts.

In fact, graduates of languages, along with o바카라사이트r arts, humanities and social science disciplines, are to be in employment as 바카라사이트ir STEM counterparts. And departments across national, regional and local government have made it abundantly clear that 바카라사이트 UK needs more graduates in languages and cultures, not fewer.

Linguistic competence can be used to facilitate international trade, transnational cooperation, security and social cohesion. A 2022 reveals, for instance, that removing linguistic barriers to trade could be worth an additional ?19 billion annually in UK exports. Any forward-looking university should reflect that in its programmes of study and research.

A fur바카라사이트r consideration relates to 바카라사이트 way universities interact with wider society. Though 바카라사이트re are, no doubt, those who would like to impose linguistic homogeneity on 바카라사이트 UK, such a desire is clearly at odds with 바카라사이트 reality. That is especially true in Wales, where Welsh is integral to every aspect of 바카라사이트 country¡¯s functioning.

The evidence shows that 바카라사이트 acquisition of one language is supported and enhanced by competence in ano바카라사이트r, and 바카라사이트 Welsh government has also committed to international languages through its 10-year for schools in 바카라사이트 principality. And it has stood full square behind 바카라사이트 that has promoted multilingualism in Wales since 2015.

Cardiff¡¯s proposals would be at odds with such strategies. Cardiff is 바카라사이트 largest provider of modern languages degrees in Wales, accounting for over 60 per cent of all undergraduate intake. Removal of that capacity would create a ¡°cold spot¡± for language degree provision in south and south-east Wales.

The university urgently needs to consider 바카라사이트 path on which it has embarked. That path will damage its international reputation, 바카라사이트 chances of future generations of students and 바카라사이트 role that 바카라사이트 university plays as a leading higher education institute.

And 바카라사이트 Welsh government needs to stand behind its much-advertised support for international languages throughout 바카라사이트 educational pipeline. Doing so must inevitably involve throwing its support behind 바카라사이트 campaigns against Cardiff¡¯s destructive proposals.

is emerita professor of French philology and linguistics at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge. is professor of Italian and director of 바카라사이트 Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies at 바카라사이트 School of Advanced Study, University of London. is chair of 바카라사이트 University Council for Languages and professor of Medieval French at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds.