Stephen Fry offers support to 'brilliant' University of Huddersfield department threatened by redundancies

Stephen Fry has offered his support to the University of Huddersfield's "quite brilliant linguistics department" after its future was thrown into doubt.

The university announced last week that 37 staff will be made redundant across its arts and humanities departments, so it can respond to a change in demand for undergraduate courses.

Professor Dan McIntyre said all of the linguists working in the Linguistics and Modern Languages department could lose their jobs under these plans, as two are being made redundant and three will have to compete in a “selection to stay” exercise.

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The professor, who has launched a petition urging the university to reconsider, is concerned about the future of the department and said the university has suspended new admissions but also has “no plans for how it will deal with our current students”.

Stephen Fry said he was "shocked to hear that a savage knife has been taken to the quite brilliant linguistics department" at the University of HuddersfieldStephen Fry said he was "shocked to hear that a savage knife has been taken to the quite brilliant linguistics department" at the University of Huddersfield
Stephen Fry said he was "shocked to hear that a savage knife has been taken to the quite brilliant linguistics department" at the University of Huddersfield

Mr Fry, who gave a speech at an event organised by the department last week, is now encouraging people to sign that petition, which has more than 2,000 signatures.

The actor and writer tweeted: "I was shocked to hear that a savage knife has been taken to the quite brilliant linguistics department there. Here's a petition to help save it"

Professor McIntyre said: “They claim that it's a result under recruitment and it's certainly true that that's been very challenging.

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“But our (undergraduate) applications for this year are 92 per cent up on what they were last year so we're going in the right direction.

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“Our postgraduate numbers of applications are very healthy. But the university has not been supporting us.

“We have been told today that the university has suspended recruitment to all our courses without telling us so, in effect, we've been hamstrung.”

Professor McIntyre, who is leaving the department to take another job, said it has “a really good reputation internationally” and is known for conducting high-quality research and producing the language magazine Babel, which is read by subscribers in 38 countries.

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He added: “This removes the possibility of studying linguistics in the local area. For a university like Huddersfield, that prides itself on widening access and widening participation, that's a terrible move to make.

“That's especially in the context of the university being debt free.”

The university’s latest statement of accounts, published last year, show it recorded a surplus of more than £14m after tax.

A university spokesman said: “The School of Arts and Humanities is reshaping to align itself to meet current and future areas of student demand. The University continues to invest in areas of growth and manage its resources effectively.”