Students protest at budget cuts

by by  © The Herald
Originally published: 29.05.2009



Hundreds of students protested yesterday over proposed budget cuts to Edinburgh University's modern languages teaching.

Joined by Shirley Ann Somerville MSP and a host of university staff, a noisy crowd gathered outside the university's Old College, where officials were due to meet student representatives later in the afternoon.

The protest, backed by staff, is over cuts worth £400,000 to be made over two years to modern languages, which could see subjects such as Russian and Portuguese disappear completely.

Fears were also expressed that the cuts, coupled with the current economic climate, could claim valuable courses and staff jobs at the university's languages department.

Adam Ramsay, president of the university's student association, said: "This is exactly the time that we should be learning more foreign languages, to build our relationships with Europe and the rest of the world.

"This has happened because of a failure to invest in growing our language provision by both the university and the government."