The university announces it will keep classes in Italian and Indonesian

Italian was set to go as part of course changes but it upset friends of the language in the community (CMM October 8). The consul also had a view, and there was “strong advocacy” from the state government. And so HASS Executive Dean Peter Monteath says the “Italian language programme will be retained and is open for enrolments in 2022.”

Certainly, Professor Monteath adds, “the long-term sustainability of Italian” will be monitored and he hopes “the deeply held views of the community result in an upswing of interest in Italian language studies.”  But having responded to community concerns once, Flinders U will face another fight if it tries to axe Italian in the future. La Trobe U similarly decided to keep Greek and Hindi after community campaigns (CMM January 29, February 9).

But LT U is teaching out Indonesian (CMM, April 13) which Flinders U was set to end but has decided to keep.

Wise move. There may not be many advocates of Indonesian language learning in Adelaide but 277m people who speak it are just 10 flight-hours away.