58 members of staff are at risk of redundancy as the university consults to close a range of subjects including: modern languages, journalism and anthropology.
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00:00 As you can see, I'm stood in front of the registry office here on the University of Kent Canterbury campus.
00:06 Protesters dispersing. There was over a hundred of them marching around Central Campus today
00:12 at a march that started at the Darwin Building and ended right here, followed by a series of speeches
00:18 from students who study history, anthropology, as well as lecturers in the modern arts and philosophy departments.
00:25 Well, I spoke to one of the modern arts lecturers just after the protest, and he said that this consultation
00:33 could lead to Kent becoming a cold spot for modern languages and subjects like this in the future.
00:42 A lot of our students become future teachers of foreign languages in secondary schools,
00:49 and all of that is going to be really, really difficult. It's going to be a cold spot for modern languages in the southeast.
00:57 And I think that's really not what this region needs at the moment.
01:02 Well, some of the students I spoke to today are worried about what this means for their future and education.
01:08 Some of them said it doesn't look good being on a course or at a faculty that's getting phased out.
01:13 And some of the students said that they were heartened by the huge turnout, more than a hundred people,
01:20 by my estimations, one of them being one of the organisers, Olly Sturdy.
01:24 People are pretty angry, as you can see. Everyone's really passionate about it. Everyone loves our lecturers.
01:32 I feel like in the modern day, people become quite politically apathetic, and it's quite easy to think that
01:37 these situations are completely out of our control. And although they might be for the most part,
01:41 we can still kick up a fuss and tell them exactly what we think about it.
01:44 So what are some of the subjects that are at risk of being phased out during this consultation?
01:49 Well, they include the entirety of the modern languages department, anthropology, philosophy, English.
01:57 And this had a significant impact, not just on the students here today, not just on the lecturers whose jobs are at risk,
02:03 58 of them, in fact, but on previous staff here as well.
02:07 One professor I spoke to who's lecturing here since 1979 says that he's shocked by the consultation.
02:15 We won't really seriously be able to claim to be a real university. A university covers the universe of knowledge.
02:23 That's always the traditional definitions. And we won't be able to do that.
02:28 And I don't believe that we'll be able to attract students, particularly overseas students,
02:34 in the same numbers as we have in the past. And that will be a disaster for us.
02:39 Well, in regards to the consultation, the University of Tolkien TV,
02:43 they're focusing on responding to issues facing the whole higher education sector,
02:48 such as financial challenges due to fixed tuition fees, rising costs and changes in student behaviour.
02:54 They're trying to reach, they say they're trying to reshape their size to focus on priority growth areas for the future.
03:01 They're in a consultation with staff and trade union representatives,
03:04 focusing on voluntary redundancy and reduced hours as far as possible.
03:09 They also try to reiterate that none of the proposed plans will impact the current cohort's ability to graduate.
03:15 They're trying to minimise the impact on studies as much as possible.
03:19 But with the strength of feeling here today at the protest, many might disagree.
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