The University of Dundee has removed German Studies as an option for First Year students, which poses a larger threat to the overall continuation of this course. Staff were not consulted about this decision, even though the University insists they were. Despite having sufficient funding, the University of Dundee has failed to recruit replacement staff for our retiring lecturers for our already stretched department. Furthermore, they are working the remaining members of the department to their maximum capacity for wages which do not suffice the efforts that they put in. The University continues to give incoming 20/21 First Year students the belief that they will be able to study with German, despite having stated that they will not be offering German for the year 20/21. This makes it highly likely that German studies will also not continue in the years that follow, eventually resulting in the disappearance of the German Department within the School of Humanities. In post-Brexit Britain, we need to strengthen our ties with Europe, not weaken them through disassociating ourselves. Languages are a fundamental part of retaining these relations. We fear that German is the start of a phased removal of Languages from the School of Humanities and it would be shocking and ridiculous to deprive our student of the opportunity to improve and gain the essential skill of learning a foreign language. This is a university-wide issue that will be affecting many students, even outside the School of Humanities.

Please sign this petition and encourage the university to reconsider their decision and save our department as well as giving it the funding for more staff and giving future students the opportunity to learn these amazing languages. We also encourage you to send emails to Professor Blair Grubb, requesting that they reverse this decision.