In a truly interconnected world, linguistic and cultural fluency are as essential as ever, even in the face of Google Translate and AI. However, the teaching of Modern Languages across UK Higher Education is under sustained threat, with many university programmes being reduced, merged and even closed altogether.
St Hilda’s College has a proud tradition of excellence in Modern Languages but we aren’t immune to the wider situation. Whilst we continually need to adapt, we are determined that our College and the wider University remain a beacon for tuition and research for undergraduates and graduates.
Our primary focus is on the provision for German, especially since the retirement in 2025 of Tutorial Fellow, Dr Georgina Paul. Although we have put in place an interim solution, the University’s Faculty of Modern Languages is under significant financial pressure and is likely to be forced to consolidate German teaching posts, which may mean an end to a dedicated tutorial fellowship at St Hilda’s.
Please click here to listen to Dr Georgina Paul talk about her passion for Modern Languages and explain why the study of German remains so important.
Preventing this loss of continuity for our students and institution increasingly depends on philanthropic support. Every gift, of any size, is extremely valuable in underpinning our programme of Modern Languages. Our sequence of goals are:
- To fully fund our Career Development Fellow in German through the remainder of their initial three-year appointment and beyond. Although 20% of the £74k costs per year are covered by philanthropy, just under £60k has to be found from scarce core College funds.
- To build a decade of funding for our Career Development Fellow so that we can achieve greater continuity of teaching. This will require a further total of £660k to enable.
- To ultimately endow a Tutorial Fellowship in German so that the subject can be taught and researched in perpetuity. This requires a further £3.1m to be added to the endowment fund.
Please do help future generations of St Hilda’s students and researchers if you can. Thank you.
Watch "It's Time for Tea with Georgina Paul"
It feels like a very threatening national context at the moment.
It's very upsetting if people are deprived of that opportunity.
- Dr Georgina Paul (Modern Languages, 1980)
Support the Continuation of German at St Hilda's College