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New agreement reaches out to far-flung German students

January 07, 2005

German Agreement.jpgStudents in the Hunter Valley wanting to study German will now be able to do so following a pioneering agreement between the University of New England and Newcastle University.
The Undergraduate Teaching Agreement was signed on Friday (January 7) by Professor Ingrid Moses, Vice-Chancellor of UNE and Professor Nicholas Saunders, Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University.
It provides for lecturers from UNE’s School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics to teach German language courses in mixed mode at Newcastle University.
The agreement has been helped with a $113,000 grant from the Federal Government’s Higher Education Innovation Program (HEIP) over the next year.
This will provide for UNE to employ an academic on a year’s contract who will develop the course and also pay for an on-campus tutor at Newcastle University.

From this year, Newcastle students will be able to access UNE’s German course at Newcastle University. They will be able to study on-line and complete assignments, such as multiple-choice tests in grammar and language, using video-conferencing facilities.
It is hoped the agreement will be used as a model for similar arrangements between UNE and other institutions across Australia.
UNE is one of only a handful of Australia’s 39 universities to offer courses in German. Over the past decade, there has been a decline in enrolments for foreign languages at universities and the agreement is seen as an innovative way of halting this erosion.

Professor Moses welcomed the agreement.
“In many universities across Australia, there are disciplines that are not viable, but there is still a demand from students to study these, so a co-operation such as this between universities ensures students have a wider choice of study,” she said.
Professor Saunders said there were a number of reasons for the decline in student numbers enrolling in foreign language courses.
“It is a combination of a shift in interest from students away from these courses, together with the problems faced in resourcing these high-quality language courses bearing in mind the current funding regime,” Professor Saunders said.
The agreement also means students currently studying German at Newcastle University will be able to continue with their course, despite it being wound-up at Newcastle.
For more information phone Associate Professor Herman Beyersdorf on 6773 3042 or Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at January 7, 2005 04:58 PM