[PLing] INFO: Save Nottingham Languages degrees – we need your help

Fri Nov 21 18:19:42 CET 2025

Dear colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting),

It is hard to believe, but the University of Nottingham is proposing 
closing *all* *language degrees* here, from 2026 onwards.

It is a disaster for languages in England, and a personal disaster for 
many colleagues who will lose their jobs if this proposal goes ahead. 
(Including me! – but it is much worse for many others who have young 
families and have many years of their working lives ahead of them.)

My colleagues and I would be very grateful if you could help oppose the 
plan to close languages, which really is a bad idea for many reasons – 
see website (link below <https://www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/>) and 
attached template letter for some of the reasons. There are viable 
alternatives to closure, and they must be considered seriously before 
any decision is made.

Below is some information on how you can help, including signing and 
sharing the petition 
<https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-removal-of-modern-languages-courses-at-the-university-of-nottingham> 
set up by our languages, and/or writing a letter – as an individual, on 
behalf of your department/ institution, or scholarly association/ 
network. You might also want to comment on fruitful research ties, for 
example, as the “international reach” of research is also being talked 
about as a facto.

*
*

*We know that letters from international scholars really do make the 
University leadership pay attention.*

So your support could really make a big difference!

Please pass this information among your networks too.

Best wishes, and thanks for any help you can give!

Nicola McLelland (and colleagues)

___________________________________

We greatly appreciate your support for Languages at Nottingham.
We are committed to fighting to overturn plans to close undergraduate 
degrees in languages.

If you would like to help us, please consider doing any of the following 
to contribute to the campaign:

 1. Sign and share the petition created by one of our students:
    Petition · Stop the removal of Modern Languages courses at the
    University of Nottingham! - United Kingdom · Change.org
    <https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-removal-of-modern-languages-courses-at-the-university-of-nottingham>
 2. Write to our Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane Norman
    (Jane.norman at nottingham.ac.uk), expressing your support for the
    Department and our courses. You can find a template letter, which
    you may wish to adapt, under Resources on our website
    savenottinghamlanguages <https://www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/> (the
    address is https://www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/ Please also cc. member
    of our University Council:

       o  Chair of Council and Pro-Chancellor: Sir Keith O'Nions
        Keith.Onions at nottingham.ac.uk
      o Vice-Chair of Council: Sonya Leydecker
        Sonya.Leydecker at nottingham.ac.uk
      o Treasurer: Giles Willits Giles.Willits at nottingham.ac.uk
      o President and Vice-Chancellor: Professor Jane Norman
        Jane.Norman at nottingham.ac.uk
      o Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Professor Sam Kingman
        sam.kingman at nottingham.ac.uk
      o Staff Members:
        Professor Cecilia Testa cecilia.testa at nottingham.ac.uk
        Professor Joanne Lymn joanne.lymn at nottingham.ac.uk
        Professor Thomas Sotiriou thomas.sotiriou at nottingham.ac.uk
        Andrew Armstrong andrew.armstrong at nottingham.ac.uk              

      o External Members (neither staff nor students):
      o Helen Miles Helen.Miles at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Helen.Miles at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Piyali Mitra Piyali.Mitra at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Piyali.Mitra at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Stephen Odell  Stephen.Odell at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Stephen.Odell at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Michelle Haslem Michelle.Haslem at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Michelle.Haslem at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Richard Parry Richard.Parry at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Richard.Parry at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Rakesh Sharma Rakesh.Sharma at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Rakesh.Sharma at nottingham.ac.uk>
        Anthony Murphy Anthony.Murphy at nottingham.ac.uk
        <mailto:Anthony.Murphy at nottingham.ac.uk>
      o Student Representatives:
        Favour Samuel (President) Favour.Samuel at nottingham.ac.uk
        Alma Guo (Vice-President, Education) Alma.Guo at nottingham.ac.uk

 3. Please consider responding to this email with a quote about the
    department and the situation you would be happy for us to share in
    public and internal communications. Along with your words, please
    include your name as you would like it shared with your degree(s)
    and years of study where appropriate. You may also wish to include a
    profession or job title.
 4. Please also consider sharing a few sentences of testimonial, along
    with a photo and your years/degree at Nottingham to *@saveuonmfl on
    Instagram*. This campaign is being led by students to help paint a
    picture of the impact of the department on generations of staff and
    students.

 5. Share our website savenottinghamlanguages
    <https://www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/home#how-you-can-help> and
    consider writing on our wall of support there, Speak Up for
    Languages — savenottinghamlanguages
    <https://www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/speak-up>

Thank you, again, for your support for Languages at the University of 
Nottingham.

Best wishes,

Staff of the UoN Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

/My working pattern may not be yours. I don’t expect you to respond to 
messages outside your own normal working hours. /

**

*Prof. Nicola McLelland *(/she/ her/)

*Professor of German and History of Linguistics*

*Head of School, School of Humanities*

Humanities Building, Rm B36**

University of Nottingham

University Park

NG7 2RD

nicola.mclelland at nottingham.ac.uk

+44 (0) 115 95 15672**

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/people/nicola.mclelland 
<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/people/nicola.mclelland>
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