Support German at MacEwan University

The Executive Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers of German (CAUTG) has noted, with regret, that MacEwan University has suspended all German language programming, despite the fact that the program has been run successfully for many years, and that enrolment numbers have remained stable (our annual statistics on enrolment in German courses at Canadian tertiary level institutions show that this is true for both courses offered at MacEwan University, GER 111 and 112).

While we are aware of the current fiscal reality of post-secondary education in Alberta, we would like to point out that this decision contradicts MacEwan’s stated priority of internationalization and your institution’s laudable commitment to preparing your students to embrace the richness of global knowledge, cultures, and perspectives. We are certain that providing students with the necessary translingual and transcultural skills in order for them to become global citizens is an enormously important goal of postsecondary education in Canada. In spite of the serious challenges presented by shrinking budgets, building such skills must remain a priority at any Canadian university. We would like to call on you to make every effort to ensure that your students continue to be able to acquire proficiency in German.