Dwindling numbers force USQ language course cuts

DECLINING demand for German and Mandarin Chinese languages at USQ over the past 10 years has prompted a review of these courses from next year.

Professor Barbara de la Harpe, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts, said this came about following a staff consultation process and a review of the courses being offered.

“Over a long period of time, student enrolments in our German and Mandarin language courses have dwindled to unsustainably small numbers,” she said.

“Although USQ has crosssubsidised the offer of languages for a decade in the hope that enrolments might grow and make the courses more sustainable, this has not occurred.

“The proposal to cease offering the language majors has not been taken lightly, but it is not viable to run courses that have only a small number of students enrolled.

“Despite every effort made to grow numbers over the past decade, the lack of student demand for language courses means that unfortunately we can no longer offer these courses for a small number of students.

“Like any taxpayer backed organisation, the university has a responsibility to ensure that our government funding is spent wisely and put into areas where there is growing student and employer demand.”

As part of a transition strategy, Professor de la Harpe said the university was working with individual students enrolled in the study of languages to map out their programs so that they would not be disadvantaged.

“We are currently putting a number of options to them so that they can continue their studies and complete their degrees from USQ,” she said