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This is a great local resource in the area to those with small children. Please think hard before you remove this resource. We get a lot of rain here and it’s ideal for when the weather is bad. There are very few places for little ones in the Conwy Valley. Make the right decision and you’ll gain a lot more local support
Sue supported: Don't Destroy Our Soft Play Global Shred Ventures Ltd!I was recovering from a major surgery when an scholar help me to find a goal through Ancient studies. History, humanities make sense our lives, help to understand the present, fomented the intelligence and sensivity. We must trust in humanities the future which guide sciences. We must entrust on its values.
Madelin Zeida supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeThis school was my home at Cardiff university. It is made up with the most wonderful staff who are so passionate about what they do. It seems so incredibly unfair that not only are these people out of a job but the next generation of academics aren’t able to experience their wonderful teaching.
Gemma supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeAs both an MA and PhD graduate of the Cardiff Ancient History program I am disgusted at the proposed action by the university. This program has a long history of training high-achieving graduates and contributing significantly to the field of ancient Mediterranean studies.
This proposed cut shows the cowardice of the current administration when faced with financial difficulties.
Joshua supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeI spend a wonderful year completing the MA program for Archaeology at Cardiff, and I have encouraged my own students to consider Cardiff for their university education. It breaks my heart to think about the history and archaeology departments being shut down, not least because it speaks volumes about the low value university leadership places on the humanities --disciplines that underpin human civilization.
Rachel supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeI can say without a shadow of a doubt that studying Ancient History at Cardiff continues to shape the way I think today. Naturally, the staff are passionate about their research; but they also provided careful guidance, and were always available if help was needed. Similar could certainly be said about many an endangered academic team or department; but having subsequently studied and worked elsewhere, there is something about the tightly-knit Ancient History community at Cardiff which is really quite special. It would be a shame to see that disappear.
(BA English Literature & Ancient History, 2016-2019)
Anthony supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeArt History helps us understand our world and where we come from. If we lose it, we risk losing ourselves.
David supported: Save Cardiff University Ancient History DegreeYet more attacks on language learning and the further removal of opportunities for people to benefit from the enrichment such study brings. Shameful. Language and inter-cultural understanding are so valuable, and more important these days than ever. This is another university in Wales which claims to be proactively bilingual in a bilingual but then wants to cut language programmes. Mixed messages and rank hypocrisy. I'm sorry tech bros, but no, AI is not going to replace language learning. There's still a need for it and it should be valued.
David supported: Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor UniversityAs a Bangor Uni Modern Languages alumna (2013), I am shocked and saddened by this decision. Languages are vital for all aspects of a global society, not only through economic contribution, but also building cultural understanding and empathy which is so sorely needed. A bilingual university in particular should know better!
Ruth supported: Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor UniversityBangor’s Modern Languages Department was like home to me for many years, and its staff felt like an extended family. I began my undergraduate degree in French in 2011 and later added Italian as a second language at beginners’ level. Fast forward to 2025, and I have spent the best part of a decade at Bangor, completing a Master’s in European Languages and Cultures in 2018 and a PhD in Italian Studies in 2023.
Modern Languages gave me my first real teaching opportunity in British academia: I started as an hourly paid tutor in Italian and later worked for four years as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Italian, as well as a Languages for All tutor in both French and Italian. Thanks to the Department, I also met my future wife, and in 2025 we welcomed our Welsh-Italian son.
To hear that Bangor is proposing drastic cuts to Modern Languages is deeply disappointing. During my time at the university, I witnessed first-hand the impact of previous cuts — a significantly reduced workforce strained morale and made it more difficult to deliver quality education, not to mention the increased workload on those who remained (particularly PhD students). That another round of cuts and restructuring is now being proposed is, frankly, scandalous.
Equally concerning is the proposal to eliminate entire language programmes. Italian was taught at Bangor for decades and, not long ago, was ranked #1 in the UK for Italian studies. Its loss will be deeply felt. Cutting German and Chinese is no less troubling — the university invested heavily in developing Chinese partnerships, and the German team brought considerable expertise and strength. It is also impractical to cut French and Spanish staff — there is a wealth of evidence showing that workloads in Modern Languages departments are significant. Downsizing while demanding more from the remaining staff is detrimental to delivering high-quality degrees.
The threat to the Languages for All programme is also a serious loss. This initiative provided invaluable opportunities for both students and members of the wider community to learn languages at all levels, enhancing the university’s outreach and public engagement. Curtailing or eliminating this provision limits access to language learning in a region that already offers few such opportunities.
I won’t list all the benefits of studying Modern Languages, as my colleagues and fellow petition signers will undoubtedly have done this more eloquently. However, I will add that recent political shifts between the UK and EU may reopen doors for initiatives like a new Youth Mobility Scheme. The removal of Erasmus after Brexit deprived a generation of students of the chance to live and study abroad — experiences that were fundamental to my own development. Renewed international engagement could revitalise interest in languages and make them a more attractive recruitment prospect once again.
I urge the university to follow the example of institutions like Cardiff University, which chose to expand language provision despite financial pressures. Alternatively, I encourage the Executive Committee to seek external support, as my current university in Dundee successfully did to mitigate even more severe proposed cuts.
Ultimately, ongoing deep cuts to the organic fabric of the university community are unsustainable. They haven’t worked in the past, and I fear they won’t work now. I call on the Executive to find alternative solutions — to support not only my former colleagues in Modern Languages, but the wider university as well.
Gareth supported: Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor UniversityYou’re not alone — a community of supporters is ready to back you.
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