10. Recommendations

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Despite the gloomy tone of the above discussion, we believe that Dutch and Low Countries Studies are worth pursuing in the UK and the ROI. The Low Countries and Great Britain and Ireland have always had important bonds in all kinds of respects. They may have fought trade wars, but are now among each other's most important trading partners. There are strong diplomatic relations and lively cultural links. But in a modern, fast moving world, it is important for Great Britain and Ireland to maintain, develop and improve the knowledge of their friends and partners, including the Low Countries . For this, they need to continue to train specialists.

We therefore present the following recommendations, which are aimed at three broad constituencies: the academic community active in Low Countries Studies, the educational and academic authorities in the UK and the ROI, and those in the Low Countries . To some extent this is a matter of presentation, because in many instances these recommendations are valid for two or all of these constituencies.

Recommendations to the Low Countries Studies community (i.e. institutions and individuals involved in teaching and research, ALCS members, ALCS itself):

recruitment to specialist undergraduate programmes in Dutch must (continue to) be improved, especially by promotion of Dual Honours programmes involving Dutch plus another language (not exclusively German) or other subject (esp. Dutch with History), as these combinsations appear to be the best format for this;
recruitment of high-calibre postgraduates must be improved, ideally by securing postgraduate funding via AHRC grants (whether for specific students or through funding for specific projects);
the Virtual Department of Dutch should be rolled out to institutions where Dutch is not taught as part of a specialist programme; it could similarly be deployed for training students in other disciplines who undertake courses and/or field work in Low Countries Studies outside languages departments;
Dutch language and culture must continue to be promoted through high-visibility events such as the Dutch Student Day ( http://alcs.group.shef.ac.uk/studentdays.htm ) that emphasize (both to students and to institutions) that the subject is alive and well; such events should be advertised more widely to include institutions where Dutch is only taught as part of the IWLP;
the ALCS should develop a database of culture courses in Low Countries Studies; this database should be linked to the database of research in Low Countries Studies mentioned below;
highly visible regular conferences (i.e. ALCS biennials) and periodic larger scale conferences (e.g. The Bookshop of the World in 1999, Trading Cultures in 2006) must continue to take place in order to promote contacts between widely scattered researchers (in terms of disciplines and geography), and to maintain awareness of Low Countries Studies as a fully-fledged interdisciplinary field of academic study ( http://alcs.group.shef.ac.uk/conferences.htm );
involvement of Low Countries Studies in interdisciplinary research must (continue to) be promoted (e.g. by supporting conferences dealing with the Germanic languages, although not dedicated to Dutch exclusively);
the Centre for Dutch Studies at University of Sheffield is developing a database of research in Low Countries Studies in Great Britain and Ireland ; the ALCS and its members should be proactive in contributing to this and ensuring its success; this database should be linked to the database of culture courses in Low Countries Studies mentioned above.

Recommendations to the educational and academic authorities in the UK and the ROI (e.g. in the UK: the higher education funding councils; the Arts and Humanities Research Council; the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies; CiLT the National Centre for Languages; in the ROI The Higher Education Authority; The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland; The Committee for Modern Languages, Literary and Cultural Studies, and The Committee for Historical Sciences, both at The Royal Irish Academy; The Department of Education and Science):

the position of languages in British and Irish higher education institutions must continue to be supported; this is true for languages generally, but also particularly for 'minority' languages; the strong link between Dutch and German must be borne in mind here;
staff must be adequately supported in their professional development by means of a continuing programme of in-service training for teachers of Dutch, especially part-time, temporary tutors (e.g. as a wider package for tutors of lesser taught languages);
the recruitment and training of the next generation of scholars in Low Countries Studies should be aided by means of more targeted PhD scholarships;
the statistics for Dutch must be kept separate from those for German (cf. the treatment of Scandinavian Studies in HESA statistics).

Recommendations to the educational and academic authorities in the Low Countries (the Nederlandse Taalunie, but also the diplomatic representatives of Flanders and the Netherlands in the UK and ROI):

Dutch must continue to be secured where it is relatively strong - in University College London, the University of Sheffield, the University of Cambridge, and Trinity College Dublin;
the presence of Dutch in Scotland and Wales must be expanded to include at least one institution where it is offered as part of a Dual Honours programme;
support must continue at current levels at least for existing and new initiatives (e.g. the Virtual Department of Dutch) to maintain visibility of the subject;
summer courses in Dutch language in the Low Countries must be widely promoted, not just to students already studying Dutch as a (major) part of their degree;
the problem must be addressed that many institutions have with inexperienced, junior and/or part-time teachers;
exchanges between Dutch/Flemish and British/Irish universities should be further promoted, especially exchanges of staff.

10. Recommendations

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