Bachelor Minorities & Multilingualism Discontinued

The Bachelor's programme in Minorities & Multilingualism (M&M) is being discontinued. Starting from the academic year 2025/2026, the programme will be phased out. Over the past years, the programme has had too few students. The Faculty Board will ensure that Frisian, which is part of the Bachelor's M&M, finds another place within the faculty.

Too Small

Joost Keizer, who is the Faculty Board's member responsible for education at the Faculty of Arts, says: "The M&M programme is of very high quality but very small. The programme has had an average intake of ten students per year over the past five years, making it financially unsustainable. We have not seen any growth in the number of students in recent years, which is why we unfortunately have to discontinue the programme."

Last Cohort

Current students of M&M can still obtain their diplomas. The programme will be phased out from the academic year 2025/2026. The expertise and some of the course content will eventually be incorporated into other programmes. The Cluster Board will develop a plan for this in the coming period.

Frisian

The Bachelor's courses in Frisian are currently offered under the label of Minorities & Multilingualism. Last week, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) presented the report 'The future of Frisian studies' at the provincial house in Leeuwarden. The KNAW advises the government to invest in an independent Bachelor's programme in Frisian. It was announced last Tuesday that Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf is making 340,000 euros available annually for Frisian at the university level.

Dean Thony Visser responded positively to the KNAW report, saying, "Frisian is European cultural heritage as a minority language. It is important to protect that, and we, as universities, feel a responsibility in that regard. We see that extra attention is needed to make Frisian more visible and sustainably anchored in academic education and research. The Faculty of Arts is happy to contribute to that." In the coming period, the dean will engage in discussions with the ministry, province, and other stakeholders with the goal of giving Frisian a more visible and prominent place within the faculty.