Languages in higher education

The number of first-degree language undergraduates in UK higher education suffered large decreases at the end of the 1990s. These decreases are still apparent but have slowed down and started to level out in recent years.

Data from 2002/3 to 2006/7 highlights a 6% overall decrease in first-degree language undergraduates, at a time of increases in total HE first-degree students across all subjects (download the languages data below).

Recent postgraduate numbers are rising, largely due to an increase in overseas PGs. UK domiciled postgraduate numbers are fluctuating.

DIUS analysis of HESA data (Full person equivalents):

• HE language student enrolments in the UK, 2002-3 to 2007-8 by language and qualification type. All UK and overseas students enrolled across all years of study at HE institutions in the UK. This analysis uses the full person equivalent (FPE) count where single honours students = 1, joint honours = 0.5, major honours = 0.667, minor honours = 0.333, triple honours = 0.333

CILT analysis of HESA data (Student headcounts):

The majority of first-degree UGs are studying joint or combined honours language courses. The analysis provided below presents headcount data to show the actual total number of first-degree language students at universities in the UK.

• First degree student enrolments in the UK, 2002-3 to 2006-7 including language analysis. All UK and overseas students enrolled across all years of study at HE institutions in the UK. This is headcount data recording each language student as 1 whether they are studying single, joint, major, minor or triple honours, hence measuring how many students are studying each language.
• Regional data tables for first-degree undergraduates, 2002-3 to 2006-7. Total trends over the past 5 years by region, plus a regional analysis of 2006-7 first degree UGs by language.

Data source: HE registrations data is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from their Student Records of individual enrolments at HE institutions. The accuracy of the data depends on how individual institutions code and report their figures to HESA.

Data notes: In 2002/3 HESA introduced a new subject classification called the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS), hence data post 2002/3 is not comparable to previous years.

For another different source of HE data, see also UCAS data below, question 3.

First-degree UG level

• Increases: Spanish and Portuguese students have been constantly increasing over the past 9 years. Chinese and Japanese have both experienced increases in numbers in recent years since 2002/3. Modern Middle Eastern studies students had also been rising since 2002/3. Russian suffered from large decreases at the end of the 1990s, but 2006-07 saw a slight increase in student numbers compared to 2002-03 (5%).
• Decreases: Italian student numbers have been constantly decreasing over the past 9 years. Compared to 2002-03, 2006-07 saw a 16% decrease in first-degree undergraduate student numbers in Italian Studies. French and German suffered large decreases in student numbers at the end of the 1990s. The decrease in German is still apparent (10% decrease in 2006-07 compared to 2002-03), but that in French has slowed down in recent years (4% decrease in 2006-07 compared to 2002-03).

Postgraduate level

Over the past few years postgraduate numbers have been rising for some languages and for others numbers are fairly constant or fluctuating. We could tentatively pick out signs of:

• Increases: Modern Middle Eastern studies and Chinese
• Decreases: German and Japanese

Data source: This summary is based on the DfES and CILT analyses of HESA data (tables downloadable above). HE registrations data is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from their Student Records of individual enrolments at HE institutions.

Data warning: be aware that languages with smaller student numbers may be more prone to fluctuation as small changes will have a greater effect on the percentage change. For actual numbers of each language, please read the file First degree student enrolments in the UK, 2002-3 to 2006-7.

2008 entry sees a mixed picture in students doing single and major honours language degrees

• Students accepted to do a single or major honours in French rose by 11% on 2007 and this was another year of growth.
• On the other hand, despite a temporary increase in 2007, students starting to do German as a major or single degree in 2008 decreased by 7% on 2007.
• Spanish picked up again in 2008. Therefore, despite a temporary decrease in 2007, overall, it can be confirmed that the taking-up of Spanish as a single or major degree is in an increasing trend.
• In 2008, the gap between the number of students accepted to do Spanish and the number accepted to do German further widened whereas the gap between Spanish and French narrowed.
• More students were accepted to do Scandinavian studies and Russian and European studies, with an increase of 21% and 10% on 2007 respectively.
• After several years of increases, Chinese and Modern Middle Eastern studies saw a decrease in students starting to do single or major degrees in 2008 compared to 2007, although not greatly. The 2008 Chinese figure, being similar to those in 2005 and 2006, was still much stronger than the years prior to 2004. The figures on Modern Middle Eastern studies in general have fluctuated since 2005.
• After a temporary decrease in 2006, the number of students accepted to do a single or major degree in Japanese picked up again in 2007 and continued to rise in 2008, although not greatly.
• 6 more students were accepted to do South Asian studies or Asian studies in 2008. 6 fewer students were accepted to do African studies.

Download statistics on single and major degrees since 2003 from the UCAS website

Click here for the CILT analysis of UCAS statistics, which include time series since 1996 in both applications and acceptances in languages with more figures (e.g., double joint, minor)

Click here to download the CILT analysis of UCAS statistics: regional breakdown in Modern Languages applications and acceptances at UK universities, 2008 entry.

Latest figures on 2009 applicants as of 24 March 2009 reveal the following information related to languages:

• The number of applicants to study full-time undergraduate courses in UK universities and colleges is up 8.8% on this time last year.
• Compared to this time last year, the number of applicants in
  French: increased by 1.4%
  Spanish: increased by 3%
  German: decreased by 4.5%
  Chinese: increased by 12.3%
  Japanese: increased by 30.5%
  Modern Middle Eastern studies: decreased by 1.5%

Click here to find out more about the latest UCAS media release on 2009 applicants. Note: Each candidate can apply for up to 5 choices; therefore, the figures on applicants will not match those in applications.

Data source: HE student applications and acceptances data is managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), from student application forms. UCAS data is different and not comparable to HESA data. UCAS data measures potential first-year full time first-degree students (applications and acceptances) only, whereas HESA data counts actual student registrations across all years of study of a wide variety of HE qualification aims.

This data is very difficult to accurately capture due to the varied nature of provision.

In 2006/7, a total of just about 55,500 first degree undergraduate students were recorded by HESA to be studying a language at university, not at degree level, but as an accredited language course.

Data notes:

Many students of other disciplines are taking language modules at universities in the UK. A host of different study routes are provided through language, certificates, diplomas, modular credits and extra-curricular learning opportunities. National research and data on the students following such courses is scarce, although the HESA student record data does capture some of these students. In some cases, they are recorded as language units alongside and accredited to the undergraduate’s first degree of another discipline.

The following downloadable summaries provide further analysis of these accredited language courses and students:

• HE students of other disciplines studying a language module accredited to their degree, 2006-7

This data covers UK and overseas students studying at all HE Institutions in the UK. It is for accredited study only and does not include extra-curricular, non-credit bearing courses (see question 5 for more details of these courses).

Data source: The data was collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from their Student Records of individual enrolments at HE institutions. The data was analysed by CILT, the National Centre for Languages, based on student headcount analysis.

The accuracy of the data depends on how individual institutions code and report their figures to HESA.

This data is extremely difficult to capture and is not recorded in the HESA student administrative data records.

Recent survey research carried out by the Association of University Language Centres identified a total of around 32,000 HE students on unaccredited language courses outside of their main studies (results based on 79 institutions surveyed in the UK, in 2007/8).

Data source: The research was carried out by the Association of University Language Centres (AULC) looking into numbers and motivations of students taking a language as an extra-curricular activity, outside their studies (see entry listed under research below for further details).

Date note: Non-credit bearing course data used to be collected by HESA, but collection was complex and not all institutions filled in their returns undermining the reliability of the data. This is no longer collected and reported by HESA in the same way.

The unemployment rate (6 months after graduation) for all responded 2006/07 language graduates was 5%, compared to 6% for all students across all subjects. This figure is slightly smaller than 2005/6 (language graduates 6% as compared to all students across all subjects, 7%).

French graduates continued to enjoy a low unemployment rate at 4%, German had 5.0% and Spanish 5.6%, all lower than 6% for all students across all subjects.

Download the data table comparing language graduates with all subjects and a breakdown of language subjects:

• Unemployment rates of graduates by subject of study, 2006/7

Download the profile of language graduates and a summary looking at employed language graduates location of work and broad occupation roles:

• A profile of language graduates, 2006/7
• Employed language graduate destinations summary, 2006/7

Data source: The Destinations survey is carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to ascertain the employment circumstances of UK and other-EU-domiciled graduates 6 months after they have graduated and, if they are working, in which occupations and industries. A postal questionnaire is sent out to all graduates obtaining qualifications between 1 August in 2006 and 31 December 2006 in April 2007 and all graduates obtaining qualifications between 1 January 2007 and 31 July 2007 in January 2008. The response rate for UK, full-time, first-degree 2006/7 graduates was 78.0%.

Recruitment trends 2000-2008 : In the last decade, numbers of students training to teach languages in HE and SCITT institutions recorded a peak in 2003/4 at 1,820. Trainee numbers have been steadily decreasing. The number counted in this year's TDA Census for 2008/9 was 1,320.

DCSF Target numbers 2000-2010 : The allocation numbers for trainee teachers in languages was constant at 2,050 in the first half of this decade. Since then, target numbers set by the DCSF have steadily dropped falling to 1,670 in the current year 2008/9 (the same as 2007/8). A further allocation decrease is set for 2009/10 to 1,525. Target numbers have not been achieved in recruitment over the past 9 years.

A separate table on employment based routes is also available in the link below, for which recruitment also peaked in 2003/4 (at 320) followed by a slow decrease.

Download the data tables showing recruitment, 2000-2008 and targets, 2000-2010:

• Recruitment to ITT courses for languages, 2008

Data source: DCSF recruitment/ registrations data uses the TDA's ITT Trainee Numbers Census and the TDA Employment Based Routes Database, the latest data was released in Jan 2008. Taken from DCSF School Workforce in England, 2008.

Note: Another source of data is the GTTR applicant and accepted applicant data. The GTTR produce a lot of data and this can be broken down by language and analysed by some student characteristics, e.g. gender, ethnicity. Their annual reports can be downloaded via their website at www.gttr.ac.uk. They also produce application data updates throughout the year. However, please note that this is applications or (at the end of the application process) accepted applications and not registrations. It also doesn't include employment based routes data.

Organisation

LLAS, Subject Centre for Languages Linguistics and Area Studies, John Canning

Date

Published April 2008

Research Aim

This report aimed to follow up the predicted trends made in the 2003 report A New Landscape for Languages (Kelly and Jones 2003) which was commissioned 3 years after the Nuffield Languages Inquiry.

Research Design

Desk based research and secondary analysis of language provision and take-up in schools was drawn upon and carried out as well as GCSE and A level entries (and grade distributions) from 2003 to 2007. The trends and data on language student numbers in HE are also discussed in detail.

Key findings

Languages remain vulnerable, despite being strategically important for the country. A decline in student numbers was expected between 2003 and 2007, the extent of this is not always easy to predict and the decline is not as great as some had feared. In addition the rise in Spanish, Chinese and Russian offers encouragement, even if it offers little in the way of consolation for the vast decline in French and German.
The next five years will not be easily predictable. Past trends are not always a reliable indicator of the future, which always provides surprises, and rarely turns out to be entirely familiar.

Source report link

www.lang.ltsn.soton.ac.uk/resourcedownloads/1408/new_landscape.pdf

Organisation

Itesh Sachdev of SOAS and Joanna McPake of Scottish CILT, University of Stirling. Funded by the Routes into Languages Programme (LLAS, CILT, UCML - HEFCE funding)

Date

Published January 2008

Research Aim

The aim was to map provision for community languages in Higher Education. Particularly looking at how current provision responds to the language needs and potential of England’s increasingly multilingual population, and how this provision can be developed.

The Routes into Languages Programme is a HEFCE funded initiative to increase and widen participation in language study in higher education.

Research Design

Methods used in the course of this study included:

• a review of the sources of national statistics to establish what is currently known about provision for community languages, and make recommendations for improved data collection;
• a desk-based survey of provision at each higher education institution (via websites, etc.), with a focus on provision for community languages as degree subjects, in Institution Wide Language Programmes (IWLPs) and any other modular formats;
• a series of interviews with representatives of selected HEI providers concerning the rationale, the nature of the provision, and future plans;
• questionnaires and focus group discussions on meeting stakeholder needs and aspirations.

Key findings

In terms of provision:

• There is currently provision for 81 languages, as degree components or modular courses, in English universities, but most of this is organised for foreign language learners, and community language learners are often discouraged or barred from joining courses on the basis that provision is not suitable for them. There are a small number of modular courses specifically designed for community language learners.
• There are no degree courses in the four most widely used community languages in England: Urdu, Cantonese, Punjabi and Bengali, although SOAS will offer a degree course in Bengali from autumn 2008. There are, however, professional and postgraduate courses which require advanced levels of competence in these and other major community languages, for example in initial teacher education and translation and interpreting.
• Current provision for languages in higher education does not explicitly distinguish between foreign languages (i.e. for students who are either ab initio learners with little or no prior experience of the language, or who have studied the language formally at school or college, ab initio) and community languages (i.e. for students who have diverse language learning histories, often in informal contexts).

See the full report for other findings related to meeting needs, teaching and learning, professional education and policies and strategies as well as the range of recommendations that came out of the research.

Source report link

For further information see http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/community

Organisation

Pauline Kneale and Patrick Sim, White Rose CETL Enterprise, University of Leeds. Funded by the Routes into Languages Programme (LLAS, CILT, UCML - HEFCE funding)

Date

Published December 2007

Research Aim

The research aim was to gain information on the current provision of enterprise skills within language courses and the factors influencing provision alongside recommending models of good practice.

The Routes into Languages Programme is a HEFCE funded initiative to increase and widen participation in language study in higher education.

Research Design

• Develop a scheme for assessing enterprise related learning in HEI curricula.
• Use the assessment scheme to assess the expected enterprise learning content in a typical languages curricula.
• Identify and describe examples of enterprise learning in language degree courses.
• Identify opportunities and hindrances related to enterprise learning in languages degrees.
• Produce recommendations regarding enterprise learning in language degree curricula.

The research looked at the provision of enterprise skills in Masters level translation degrees at three UK universities.

Key findings

Key recommendations were:

• Create an electronic resource site where languages staff can consult examples of enterprising teaching practice, of all styles and scales. Encourage colleagues to share their practice, starting with the examples identified in the report, but enhanced by those from the wider community who were not consulted in this project.
• The development of an enterprise learning resource pack tailored to the needs of language students, and provide every department with a hard copy of this
  resource.
• Encouragement to all departments to use the audit tools available to review current provision across programmes, and look for alignments and developments that will enhance the curriculum. Update learning outcomes to include skills and
  attitudes, module handbooks and personal development planning activities to surface enterprise skills.
• Develop or commission the creation of Context style case studies which address real issues that people working in language disciplines encounter. Cases can be used to introduce students to issues in workplace management, business and professional communication skills in the target language in core modules. Well written case studies highlight specific skills providing both practice and the opportunity for reflection and evaluation.
• Run workshops within departments and nationally to showcase examples of enterprise teaching that are already in place, to encourage staff to work with the
  ideas, and prompt creation of new resources at the podule and module scale.
• Look for opportunities to develop modules co-taught internationally, addressing intercultural issues that will inspire students through both the topics and the
  opportunity to engage with counterparts in other institutions.

Source report link

For further information see http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/enterprise

Organisation

Debra Kelly, University of Westminster. Funded by the Routes into Languages Programme (LLAS, CILT, UCML - HEFCE funding)

Date

Currently in progress

Research Aim

To develop key language initiatives to facilitate HE sector’s contribution towards making Britain, in the UK Government’s words, “a generous host” and “a cultural inspiration” for the 2012 Olympics, and for other international events in London and across the UK. To widen participation and interest in languages for both personal development and participation at a moment of increasing internationalisation.

Research Design

Desk research (printed and online resources) and interviews / questionnaires (on-line/telephone/video conferencing), alongside a qualitative study.

Key findings

Research in progress

Source report link

For further information see http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/international

Survey on university students choosing a language course as an extra-curricular activity

Organisation

Association of University Language Centres, AULC, (commissioned by the DfES)

Date

Currently in progress (annual survey to run over 3 years from 2005 to 2008)

Research Aim

To track trends and motivations of students taking a language as an extra-curricular activity, outside their studies.

Research Design

Annual quantitative surveys of HE institutions and qualitative research looking at student motivation across AULC member institutions

Key findings

Research in progress.

The latest interim results based on the 2006-7 survey identified a total of around 33,000 HE students on language courses outside of their studies and 40,000 taking degree module language units (results based on 73 responding institutions surveyed in the UK).

Source report link

Contact AULC

The original 2003/4 survey research formed part of a wider European project, the European Network for the Promotion of Language learning among all Undergraduates (ENLU), download the report at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/%7Eenlu/downloads/number_of_students.doc

Organisation

Hilary Footitt, University Council of Modern Languages, UCML, (commissioned by the DfES)

Date

Feb 2005 (publication date)

Research Aim

The HE part of the Strategy aims to increase the numbers of university students who are taking an active part in language learning, and encourage Higher Education to work with schools to support the Strategy overall.

The project aimed to:

• map national/ regional trends in HE languages provision
• establish institutional factors which promote and extend language learning in HE
• map trends in the development of professional and vocational language routes in HE.

Research Design

Secondary analysis of HESA data looked into trends in student numbers. Interviews were carried out with senior managers in 6 case study institutions. Desk research of course descriptions was undertaken to map the devlopment of professional and vocational routes in HE degrees. A pilot project t explored the motivations of non-specialist learners.

Key findings

The statistical analysis showed a marked national decline in the numbers of undergraduate taking languages, either in single honours, joint honours, or in combined degrees. Over four years (1998/9–2001/2) UK domiciled students taking languages at English universities fell by 15% (French down by 19% for example), at a time when overall HE numbers were expanding.

The credibility of the National Languages Strategy was found to be low among senior managers in Higher Education.

The institutional policy which seems to be of major importance in supporting languages is the International Policy. Here, however, a wide variety of levels of explicit policy development appeared to be in place.

A number of recommendations were recorded in the report.

Source report link

Research summary: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB625.pdf

Research report: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR625.pdf