Thatcherian principles

Question

In the 1980s, when I was teaching at the University of Dundee, the university, guided by the Thatcherian principles then in vogue, decided to discontinue the teaching of modern languages.

I have done a Google search for the Thatcherian principles, but no results are found.

What are the Thatcherian principles? Why are the principles opposed to the teaching of modern languages?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Here is one opinion on this subject, excerpted from http://comment.independent.co.uk/letters/article1222567.ece

. . . under Margaret Thatcher the universities were encouraged to expand those departments and faculties which were regarded as more "economically useful" to Britain: the sciences particularly, but also subjects such as economics and accounting. Those of us who were lecturing at universities in modern languages in the 1980s perceived this emphasis to imply a demotion of modern languages, an impression which was confirmed when the very survival of many language departments depended on their becoming "service departments" to subjects more valuable to her vision of society and of Britain's needs.

Some ML departments did extremely well out of servicing these departments and expanded considerably as a result. But this was not generally the situation in UK universities, and that decade was marred by the contraction of ML departments. A Germanist, Romanist or Slavist whose sole competence lay in a foreign language was far less of an asset than was an economist or natural scientist who also spoke German, Spanish or Russian.

She was herself an Oxford graduate (in Chemistry), but (from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher) In 1985, as a deliberate snub, the University of Oxford voted to refuse her an honorary degree in protest against her cuts in funding for higher education. ...

Best wishes, Clive

Thatcherian principles

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