PRESS RELEASE
Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard will present Petition No. 1395 (for targeted funding for lesser taught languages and cultures) to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 20th September at 2 pm.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/docs/PE1395.htm
Sir Tom will be available to talk to the media on 20th September from 1pm in front of the Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh.
The petition seeks ring-fenced funding for strategically important, yet vulnerable modern languages and cultures, such as Russian, Czech and Polish, at Scottish universities.
The petition was signed by more than 3,000 people and received considerable international support.
Targeted funding formerly existed in Scotland under the Strategically Important and Vulnerable Languages Initiative. Such funding still exists in England (see editor’s notes).
Scotland has always been proud of her broad educational tradition. This rich heritage should be sustained by supporting rather than shrinking the existing provision of languages offered at Scottish universities.
Russian, Czech and Polish studies are particularly vulnerable. To lose these strategically important subjects would be an economical, cultural and political tragedy, at a time when Scotland seeks to strengthen its ties with central and eastern Europe.
For further information, please contact:
Hugh McMahon, former MEP, who will present the petition along with Tom Stoppard
0141 889 0885 (h)
07767 811 700 (m)
Amy Mackinnon, senior honours student of Russian at Glasgow University
07928 544 534
Dr Mary Heimann, Reader in History, University of Strathclyde
0141 946 7406 (h)
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