Jocelyn Wyburd Chair of UCML & Director of the Language Centre, University of Cambridge

 Fewer ‘double’ linguists at A level, identifying themselves less as ‘linguists’?  (Mis)perceptions about what language study consists of?  Anxiety about having to do a 4 th year?  Anxiety about living abroad?  Concerns about the value of language degrees for employability?  Loss of choice of programme due to departmental closures?

 Severe / unreliable grading at A level  A level reform: 3 subjects instead of 4 post GCSE? ⇛Future further decline in A level take-up? with further implications on languages degrees

 All pupils entering Year 7 in 2015 to take GCSE in EBacc subjects (2020)  Should drive greater take-up at A level?  New GCSEs (1 st exams 2018) should prepare better for A level?  New A levels should be more motivational?  New A levels an opportunity to get marking schemes which do not have the same issues of unreliability?  N.B. DfE teacher shortage estimate: 4,000

 Institution-Wide Language Programmes  Taken as ‘free choice’ options for credit or extra curricular  2014 national survey: 64 HEI responses; total enrolments: c. 55,000; c. 39% of these are ‘non UK’ students;  Numbers have doubled in a decade and are now double the number enrolled on language degrees  Wide number of languages (most HEIs: 6-11 different languages offered)

 A result of campaigning/outreach for languages in general (including Routes)  Impact from dissemination of reports/statements by the British Academy, British Chambers of Commerce, CBI etc  Recent increased press coverage of need for language skills (e.g. BA/Guardian initiative)  University internationalisation strategies and language policies and promotion of the concept of the global graduate  Peer pressure: international students acquiring 3 rd /4 th /5 th language putting pressure on home students to compete

 Polarisation of ‘(functional) language skills’ vs ‘language (-based) studies’  Increased awareness of availability – driving student choice to other subjects with a language on the side  Contribute to the closure of degree programmes – shift in university/senior management decisions about language provision to IWLP only

small numbers of high level specialists large numbers with low- level skills  single/joint honours  degree in/with languages (language- based study)  language departments  language + cultural/area studies  compulsory year abroad  combinations of X + language(s)  IWLP only (some language learning for credit/extra-curricular)  language centres  language only/some embedded culture?  optional outward mobility

 “ Employers don’t want a graduate who has spent 3 years reading medieval French literature” [Chair of the Board of a major global company, Nov 2014] Or the direct opposite:  “Employers think a Chinese studies degree is only about learning the language, without any study of contemporary China” [UCML East Asian studies representative report to plenary 2014]

 Degrees in languages are incredibly varied and multidisciplinary: ◦ Literature, film, contemporary/popular culture ◦ Society, social sciences, economics, history, business, international relations, politics ◦ Linguistics, translation studies  … and develop wide and important skills ◦ High level language skills (near native) ◦ Intercultural competence and awareness ◦ (Translation, interpreting and teaching skills) ◦ International study / work experience ◦ Personal maturity and resilience ◦ Team-work, communication skills, the ability to process, summarise and analyse text etc etc etc

 Evidence from fMRI scans etc  Increased grey matter  Brain plasticity  Cognitive processing skills in a number of different contexts including creativity, problem solving etc  Not just of relevance to ‘bilinguals’ from childhood but constantly developing in all L2 learners/users (in contrast to monolinguals)

 Studying (whether via Erasmus or in non- European universities)  Language Assistantships  Work experience (paid/unpaid – wide variety)  More than one type of experience  More than one country  Wide range of destinations globally  Recommended site:

… but with invaluable added extras!

 High for graduate linguists nationally – wide variety of sectors, good transferable skills ◦ Need to decide what career they want and sell their employability skills for that primarily ◦ Language and intercultural skills set them apart, but putting them centre stage can be counter-productive (unless for specialist language careers like translating, interpreting, teaching)  Mixed messages from employers ◦ Damage to economy of lack of language skills, particularly SMEs and export opportunities ◦ BCC has called for compulsory languages at least to GCSE, preferably through education ◦ High dissatisfaction from CBI members about graduate/school- leaver language skills ◦ Don’t always understand what graduates in and with languages are and can do ◦ Don’t routinely specify language skills in person specifications ◦ Rarely call for policy changes (can and do hire from abroad)

 National languages policy conference/round table Oct 2015 (Cambridge) with multiple civil servants: formal statement to come  UCML writing to Ofqual re severe/unreliable grading  National conference/round table Feb 2016 on reconceptualising language degrees (BA)  Regular comments in the press  Forthcoming Routes into Languages publication on employability (n.b. Routes finishes Jul 2016)  Forthcoming Born Global report (BA)  Numerous comments in press, public statements, blogs…  New AHRC Open World Initiative research projects with major goal of transforming understanding and public engagement

 We need linguists – not just those with language skills on the side but those with specialist, high level competence and deep cultural knowledge  We need language teachers, translators and interpreters  Studying languages is inherently fascinating  Language graduates are highly employable  High functioning linguists have more powerful brains  HE linguists need to do more to demonstrate the value of our disciplines; we also need support from school teachers and to support you