Bulletin of the British Association for Chinese Studies 2010-11 ISSN 0958 5082 President: Michel Hockx (SOAS) Secretary: Sarah Dauncey (Sheffield) Treasurer: David Pattinson (Leeds) Bulletin Editor: Jeremy Taylor (Sheffield) Council Members: . Gerda Wielander (Westminster) . Andrea Janku (SOAS) . Naomi Standen (Birmingham) . William A. Callahan (Manchester) . Joanne Smith Finley (Newcastle) . Natascha Gentz (Edinburgh) . Tao Tao Liu (Oxford) . Elena Barbarentseva (Manchester) . Katharine Carruthers (SSAT) . Giles Blackburn (CBBC) . Gao Jian (Edinburgh) . Wei Jin (SOAS) . Don Starr (Durham) President’s Report, 2010-11 BACS has been active in promoting public benefit in areas relevant to its mission, by increasing the level of knowledge and understanding of the world’s most populous nation in the community. Its main beneficiaries have been staff and students in Chinese Studies in British tertiary institutions. The Association has also actively disseminated information on important issues relating to Chinese Studies, such as the REF, and ensuring that the opinions of scholars in the subject area are represented on higher education decision-making organisations, such as HEFCE and the Research Councils. In addition it has worked more broadly to increase community awareness of issues relating to China. The report below indicates some of the ways in which it has pursued its aims and promoted public benefit. Promoting Chinese Studies BACS continues to promote public benefit by feeding the views of scholars in the field into broader public debate, and by reporting back to members and others in the field on the progress and implications of those debates. It has done this by representing the interests of Chinese Studies directly and also through the UK Council of Area Studies Associations (UKCASA), the University Council for Modern Languages (UCML) and contacts with funding agencies. On behalf of BACS the President attended AHRC subject associations meeting in February and June 2011, and UCKASA meetings in February and June 2011. At the February 2011 AHRC Extraordinary Subject Associations Meeting, Professor Rylance updated associations on the situation of the AHRC in the wake of the spending review. The AHRC escaped relatively well, with only a 9% cut in overall spending, though there will be larger cuts in administrative spending. Pressure from the Department of Business meant a greater focus on large grants (the theory is that universities will now be responsible for awarding small grants) and on strategic prioritisation, of which modern languages is one priority area. There was some debate over impact, with the AHRC recognizing that not all projects can have rapid impact. At the meeting, the AHRC Director of Research apologised for the Council’s failure to respond to the concerns raised by BACS and other East and South Asian subject associations; she stressed that the AHRC intended to ring-fence some continuing funding for the Language Based Area 1 Studies centres, which would address some of these concerns, while also pointing out that in future the Council would not specify particular disciplinary areas to which postgraduate scholarships would be allocated. At the regular AHRC subject associations meeting in June 2011, Professor Rylance started by drawing the meeting’s attention to two recent AHRC initiatives: The AHRC/Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers’ Scheme (where younger scholars in Chinese Studies might consider putting in for the scheme); and the role of digital methods in transforming the humanities. Professor Rylance then went on to discuss the possible impact of the new funding (or lack thereof) for universities. He said that STEM subjects, which had higher costs, might be more seriously hit, though several people pointed out that languages in particular had high costs, and anyway funds might be vired towards STEM departments. While there might be fears that the fee regime would lead to a switch of enrolments away from Humanities, experience elsewhere suggested this would not happen. It was, however, likely that there would be increased stress on so-called “value for money” for students, and that might have a serious impact on research. Some concern was expressed over the viability of smaller and interdisciplinary departments in this context, with one person suggesting that there was safety in numbers and that small departments should look to amalgamation into larger units. In relation to the REF, BACS nominated seven scholars across a range of disciplines to be panel members, and two were selected—the maximum number likely to be chosen. In February 2011, the President participated in a UKCASA meeting with Professor Gattrell, the Chair of the REF sub-panel. Professor Gattrell gave a strong affirmation of the importance of Area Studies, in particular with reference to interdisciplinarity and international engagement. He saw the role of the panel as partly to flag and publicise the range and quality of research in Area Studies. He had argued for a larger panel than the 10–12 original envisaged and was satisfied that the panel covered different areas of study and different regions of the country satisfactorily. He foreshadowed a consultation exercise over criteria to be used by the panel, and that exercise is currently under way. UKCASA members will meet with Professor Gattrell at the British Academy on 29 September. Professor Gattrell reported that there had been some broadening of criteria for and thinking about impact, beyond economic benefit. 2 The UKCASA annual general meeting in June 2011 featured a presentation by Professor Dame Helen Wallace, the incoming international secretary of the British Academy. Professor Wallace emphasised the serious deficit of foreign language competence in the UK. This was in part being addressed by recruiting talented foreigners at all levels, but the BA believed in the necessity of indigenous British human capital. The BA was convinced of the importance of languages, and had extra money to allocate in that context. Area Studies faced difficulties with the funding bodies, whose procedures fitted much more neatly into individual disciplines. Professor Wallace put out a strong message that Area Studies applicants for BA grants and fellowships should stress the language component of what they were doing. Like the ESRC and the AHRC, the BA was being forced by the government to wind back small grants schemes (though since the meeting, the Academy has announced a reduced small grants scheme). At the meeting, strong concern was expressed over the implications of the new fee regime for four-year degrees and the Language Year Abroad, though more broadly Professor Wallace suggested that area studies had a good story to tell about employability. After the end of Professor Wallace’s presentation, other items discussed at the meeting included: the lack of progress on the issue of visas for language assistants; the continuation on a reduced basis of the activities of the LLAS (Language, Linguistics, Area Studies) centre; the possibility of a study to track Language Year Abroad graduates into employment; and the possibility of some sort of common position on fee levels for the Language Year Abroad. Conferences The annual conferences organised by BACS are one major way the Association fulfils its mission and interacts with its members. The 2010 BACS Conference was held at the University of Bristol, with administrative support from the British Inter- University China Centre and financial support from the University of Bristol. It was generally held to have been a great success: attendance was substantially up on recent BACS conferences, and Professors Jonathan Spence (Yale) and Niu Dayong (Peking University) gave keynote speeches. The efficient running of the conference by Emma Holland and Daniel Holloway meant that the Association ended up with a surplus. 3 It was decided to postpone the 2012 JEASC Conference to 2013, and move the location to Nottingham. This was because the proposed venue at Oxford had informed the Associations at a very late date that it was no longer available. Thus there is a slot for BACS to hold a Conference in 2012, which will be held at Oxford. Taiwan Scholarships BACS continues to be responsible for the primary selection of UK students for language training scholarships in Taiwan. This has brought very considerable public benefit to a range of students, both those currently undertaking study in British institutions and those who have graduated into the workforce and now wish to return to study the language. In 2010-11, the assessors of the applications were Taotao Liu (Oxford), Julian Ward (Edinburgh) and the President. The President would like to thank Drs Liu and Ward for their very considerable efforts in completing the assessment to a tight schedule. BACS have received a letter from the TRO thanking BACS for its efforts and will continue to work with them to strengthen criteria and procedures for selection, and Dr Liu has agreed to take over overall coordination of BACS part in the scholarships from the BACS secretary. Web site and journal The new Web site is fully up and running, and has had a good reception. BACS remains committed to making the site as informative as possible, providing as broad a public benefit as possible, and suggestions are most welcome. The first issue of the Journal will be published in the very near future, and any members with papers they would like to submit are encouraged to contact Don Starr at Durham University. Affiliated Organisations The Association for Speakers of Chinese as a Second Language (www.chinesespeakers.org), established under the auspices of BACS in 2008, has enjoyed a surge in interest, with membership now approaching the 500 mark, all of whom have a degree (or equivalent) in Chinese (as a second language). These members are based throughout the world, but the majority live either in the UK or Asia. ASCSL provides networking and professional development opportunities for people with an accredited level of Chinese (undergraduate degree in Chinese or HSK equivalent).