Over the last few months we have kept you updated on the campaign to save the Slavonic Studies department at the University of Glasgow, which has been threatened with closure. We are dismayed to report that when the University Court met on Wednesday 22nd June they approved the proposal to shut down the MA (Joint Hons) Slavonic Studies degree programme, with effect from 2012. Rather than close the whole department, however, they opted to preserve the teaching of Slavonic languages (Russian, Polish and Czech) at the University, but only in a severely reduced form. This means that it will no longer be possible to obtain a degree in ‘Slavonic Studies’ anywhere in Scotland, and a valuable global centre for the study of Russian and Eastern European literature, history and culture will be lost. It is as yet unclear what the impact these changes will have on current staff and students in the department, but they have vowed to continue to fight the cuts. A new petition to the Scottish Government to increase funding for lesser-taught languages has been set up by department staff, and you can sign it here:
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