The news came from the Facebook page of the university’s Italian Studies department, which thanked the organisations and associations that have supported the teaching of the language in Hawthorn over the years: the ACIS/Cassamarca Foundation, which partly sponsored a lectureship position for nearly two decades; the D’Aprano family; the Dante Alighieri Society of Melbourne; the CO.AS.IT./Museo Italiano; the Italian Poetry Competition coordinator, Maria Liuzzi-Scalpelli; and all the schools and universities that have engaged with the program.
“We wish to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of all teaching staff who have worked in the Italian program over the years, and the wonderful students who have studied Italian with us,” the statement read.
“It has been a privilege and an honour to have been part of this program.”
An online petition that garnered around 1300 signatures and numerous letters of support in recent months proved helpless.
Japanese and Chinese will also be cut at the university.
Italian has been offered at Swinburne for around 50 years.
In recent years, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) had also cut Italian, but in 2017 it returned to offering students the opportunity to complete a diploma in Italian.
