OU Consolidates Language Programs
The University of Oklahoma’s modern languages department chair confirmed the department encouraged the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s deletion of five language majors for the creation of one consolidated degree.
On Monday, state regents approved the termination of 16 OU degree programs and the suspension of three others. The release stated the decision followed a review of 357 low-producing degree programs across the state.
some of the terminated programs include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in French, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German, a bachelor’s degree in Chinese, a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and a Doctor of ideology in French.
Karin Schutjer, acting chair of the OU Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, wrote in an email to OU Daily Monday evening that the deletion of the bachelor of arts programs was requested by the college’s faculty.
“The Regents did not delete Arabic, Chinese, French, German, and Italian BAs as the result of a low productivity study,” Schutjer wrote. “The faculty in those five programs proactively created a consolidated major called World Languages and Cultures with concentrations in those languages that will substitute for the old BAs. (Therefore, we requested the deletions.)”
While the Italian bachelor’s degree was not mentioned in the state regents’ terminations, the degree is also included in the consolidation. The consolidated language programs will still be available through concentrated study tracks, according to Schutjer.
“A concentration is just a distinctive track within a major,” Schutjer wrote. “Thus students can still get degrees in those five languages.”
OU Marketing and Communications confirmed the consolidation of the language programs in a phone call with the Daily Tuesday.
According to Schutjer’s email, each of the language concentrations has been streamlined down to 30 credit hours, a decrease from 33 or 36 credit hours depending on the language, making it easier to pair the program with other majors and minors. This is similar to the