Stoppard speaks up for languages

HE’S an Oscar-winning playwright whose works have graced stages the world over, but yesterday Sir Tom Stoppard found himself in the rather more prosaic surroundings of the Scottish Parliament’s committee room 2.

Helping to deliver a petition against cuts to modern languages at Scotland’s universities, Sir Tom joined his friend Jan Culik, a lecturer at Glasgow University, with whom he collaborated for his 2006 play Rock’n’Roll, which is set partly in the former Czechoslovakia.

He is among more than 3,000 people to have signed the petition calling for better funding for lesser taught languages and cultures such as Russian, Czech and Polish at Scottish universities.

It comes as Glasgow University is set to to axe its Slavonic studies department from next year, although the university has said it has no plans to cut language teaching. Despite being born in the former Czechoslovakia, Sir Tom said his appearance at the committee was less to do with emotional ties and more about the very real issue of university funding.

He said: “I have not spoken Czech since I was about four. I do have an emotional response, but it’s not really to do with the fact I was born in the Czech Republic – that’s not central to my reason for being here. I’m here because [the cuts] are an example of a trend which makes losers of all of us.”

He said Glasgow’s Slavonic studies department was one of only two such schools in the UK, adding: “I feel quite strongly about it. It’s a small department and from a money point of view, it’s a risibly small cut. What’s really happening is what’s happening everywhere, we are turning away from humanities and the arts.

“I have known Jan Culik for a few years and picked his brains about Czech when working on my play Rock’n’Roll. I’m in the middle of filming in London, but when I was told about this I wanted to come straight away.”

According to those behind the petition, targeted funding of lesser-taught languages has been lost since devolution, raising the risk that universities may begin cutting courses in eastern European languages.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are lobbying MSPs to ring-fence funding, arguing that the Scottish Funding Council must maintain a wide range of courses.

Sir Tom, who has won Academy and Tony awards for his work, including Shakespeare In Love and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, was born Tomas Straussler in the former Czechoslovakia.

He spoke of his affection for Scotland, saying it struck “all kinds of chords” in his soul.

He added: “The fact that young Scottish people can go to university without paying is a rebuke to the rest of the UK and the UK parliament – that’s something to be proud of. I speak as someone who did not go to university himself, so I don’t think I can speak with such authority. ”

UCU Scotland president Gordon Watson added: “If we start taking an axe to degrees then Scottish students will be forced to pay the higher fees in England or give up their dreams.”