Is German on its way out as a university subject?

Leicester University's German department is the latest to consider closure, as students opt for 'warmer' languages such as Spanish and French

The Guardian

HE Academy Sustainability literacy book launched

An important new educational resource was launched on September 18th, 2009. The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy takes a sharp look at the skills, attributes and competencies that learners will need for surviving and thriving in the 21st century. It is a free multimedia resource with interviews and chapters by more than forty educators (see www.sustainability-literacy.org) as well as a paperback book. The handbook is critical of some mainstream skills agendas which focus narrowly on skills for industrialisation and economic expansion at all costs, and instead promotes a more open-ended approach including abilities such as values reflection, ecological intelligence, and critical awareness of the social structures that underpin unsustainable societies. The authors include leading sustainability educators as well as specialists from a wide range of disciplines from engineering to art, and the resource will be useful for lecturers, teachers and students across all study areas. The project was funded by the Higher Education Academy Education for Sustainable Development Project and conducted by the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire Centre for Active Learning, the University of Brighton and the UNU RCE (Severn). The paperback book is edited by Arran Stibbe from the University of Gloucestershire and the multimedia version by Poppy Villiers-Stuart and Arran Stibbe.

Contact: Arran Stibbe (astibbe@glos.ac.uk), University of Gloucestershire, FCH Campus, Swindon Road, Cheltenham GL50 4AZ, UK

Arran Stibbe (ed) (2009) The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: skills for a changing world. Dartington: Green Books (£14.95, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-900322-60-7, www.greenbooks.co.uk)

Exeter sets up database of rude Renaissance French words

Times higher Education reports that the University of Exeter has launched a database of obscene terms used in renaissance France.


http://groups.exeter.ac.uk/obscenity/

Centre for New Zealand Studies to close

University says Centre for New Zealand Studies is unsustainable, despite £100,000 donation from NZ Government last year.

Times Higher Education

CILT launches new agenda for languages

As CILT, the National Centre for languages launches its new agenda for languages this week, its Chief Executive is calling for government agencies and employers to do more to recognise the vital importance of languages to help lift the UK out of the global recession.

CILT, the National Centre for Languages

Universities 'forced to stop teaching languages'

Universities are being forced to abandon the teaching of pure languages after the government dropped mandatory lessons in secondary schools, the head of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, is warning as its annual conference starts today.

The Guardian

CILT: UK will be held back unless it boosts numbers of language graduates

The UK will be held back as it seeks to emerge from recession unless it boosts the number of language graduates, campaigners say.

CILT, The National Centre for Languages points to a worrying decline in the take-up of modern languages.

BBC website

JAPAN: Academics claim they were dismissed for teaching Ainu language

Professors who taught dying tongue say university 'fabricated' claims. Melanie Newman reports

Three academics who were sacked by a Japanese university on charges of "academic harassment" have claimed that they were ousted for attempting to teach an indigenous language.

The professors of educational linguistics, who have asked not to be named, are bringing legal action against Hokkaido University of Education after being fired by the institution in February.

Times Higher Education

Report for Ainu on Ethnologue

Women spends night at Hôtel de Ville

A British tourist has spent a night trapped in a French town hall after mistakenly thinking she could book a room at the "hotel de ville".

BBC website

Stroke cures man's eyesite, but he can no longer speak French

A Rutland man has a stroke which cures his eye site, but costs him his ability to speak French.

BBC website