Curtain may fall on Ustinov department

The future of Durham University's Russian language department, named after chancellor Sir Peter Ustinov, is under threat. Teaching staff are scheduled to be halved when its head retires and a lecturer takes maternity leave, and the senate is to consider a proposal not to admit students from next October.

The Ustinov Institute has about 50 full-time students and others studying the language as part of their degree courses. Three hundred students have taken part in a demonstration to oppose the closure.