The University of Nottingham, one of the most prestigious Russell Group universities, is preparing to close its languages department, as well as 48 undergraduate courses across music, nursing, agriculture, theology, microbiology and education. It seems strange that at an institution which claims to be a ‘global university without borders’, students will no longer be able to study French, German, Spanish, Chinese or Russian.

My reaction to this news is one of head vs heart. My head tells me that in order to survive and provide high-quality education, universities need to be solvent, and so perhaps this is a pragmatic decision – a hard one, but one that reflects our hard times. 

Nottingham University is in a terrible financial position: it has already reduced budgets, frozen staff recruitment, threatened to cut over 250 jobs, removed £40 million from its planned spending, and committed to reducing the size of its estate by 20 per cent and selling King’s Meadow Campus. It will be under even more pressure given the recent clampdown on student visas (around a quarter of its intake are international students).

The University of Nottingham’s University and College Union has

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