Languages

Changing student expectations and labour market challenges also drive shift towards interdisciplinary programmes

Course cuts will ‘revitalise’ language offerings, make students more employable and ‘address global challenges’, university claims

Falling silent: Will AI hasten the demise of modern language courses?

Anglophone scepticism about the value of language study had been rising for many years before anyone had heard of Duolingo or ChatGPT. But while some academics believe technology will kill off universities’ remaining language departments, others dare to hope it will be their saviour. Patrick Jack reports

Sector leaders warn that PhD students and academics could go elsewhere if requirement to gain proficiency in Norwegian goes ahead

University lifts possibility of compulsory redundancies ahead of planned six-day walkout

Development of ‘cold spots’ without arts and humanities programmes prompts calls for more strategic approach to university provision

Election result in world’s fourth biggest nation underlines the need for better understanding of its neighbour

Union branch votes to take industrial action after university proposes closing single honours degrees, affecting 30 jobs

Thousands sign petition opposing plans to close degree programmes as university court meets to discuss whether to put plans on hold

Aberdeen’s proposal to slash its provision belies positive recent developments, say Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Charles Burdett and Emma Cayley

Union pledges to fight ‘academic vandalism’ being consulted on by Scottish university

Linguistic fluency ‘seldom achieved’ and peripheral to ‘the jobs of today and the future’, Australian university claims

Aberdeen’s proposal to close language degree programmes might save money but it will impoverish international understanding, says Charles Burdett

As a small fish in a very big pond, New Zealand can ill afford to turn its back on its giant neighbours, academics warn

University withdraws Austrian role due to funding deficit but staff say longstanding post was well worth the small investment it entailed

While admitting the much-protested model is dead in the US, Dartmouth’s Hanlon leads expert panel in setting out ways that similar language-culture teaching programmes could grow

Language Policy Framework seeks to integrate the country’s 11 official languages into higher education

Computer scientist on his company’s foray into testing, competing with TikTok and lessons from being a university professor

Scholars say Russia’s war is to blame for decline in first-year students, with some noting ‘unprecedented’ increases in Polish and Ukrainian languages

New textbook series may be seen as move to create a cadre of evangelists across international borders

Korea’s soft power is only part of the explanation, with Seoul pumping millions into opening Korean language academies around the world, professor says

Academics warn against ‘technocratic’ solution when venues for publishing in languages other than English are struggling

Chinese studies should be strategic priority course in HE and new A level would boost student numbers at universities, says Hepi report

Taipei’s soft power play should work as long as it keeps things apolitical, say academics

Manipulating assessment to generate equal outcomes sabotages an engine of fairness in a meritocratic society, says Glenn Fulcher

Harvard Beijing Academy becomes Harvard Taipei Academy, amid concern about friendliness and accommodation

Outflow of cash prompts calls for change in nation with world’s second-biggest English-speaking population

Li Wei also expresses concern about state of modern language teaching in UK

Another delay in reforms could negatively impact internationalisation, expert says

Report looking at hidden aspects of admissions data finds some universities and courses are faring better than others

Limited fluency and cultural concerns could lead to a backlash against German institutions’ pitch to the international market, says Brian Bloch

Amid demographic decline and geopolitical isolation, island hopes to have more English-language courses

The British sinologist talks about the book that sparked her interest in China, and why she decided to translate an ancient epic

Expansion of overseas language courses could offset declines back home 

Japanese and Korean schools struggle to recruit as border restrictions continue

Grim statistics on single-honours enrolments belie an explosion in joint-honours provision, says Katherine Astbury

Latest Ucas data show increasing concentration of undergraduates in handful of institutions

Education department asserts right to approve language course closures while insisting that it ‘does not intervene’

Australian department ‘erroneously’ removed protection for former education minister’s pet courses

Murdoch gives the language another year and backs away from proposal to sideline some academics from research

Expert views conflict on humanities graduates’ employment prospects, and whether Australian funding changes will make arts the preserve of the elite

In a new book, female scholars share their experiences of gender and racial bias

Popularity of Korean films and music drives emerging field of Hallyu studies and boosts Korean universities’ internationalisation

Book of the week: Constantine Sandis admires a subtle and judicious analysis of the communications skills of our fellow creatures

Tributes paid to Irish expert on French literature who ‘recognised languages as a key to future opportunities in Europe’

Academics estimate that 32 language degree programmes have closed in the past five years

Hepi paper calls for broad range of measures to boost ailing subject in UK higher education

The language specialist talks about his monoglot roots, the joys of linguistics and why academics could take a trick or two from English teachers

Colleagues may judge those with regional accents more harshly, but poorer students respond to lecturers from similar backgrounds, says Ryan Coogan

The cultural studies scholar reflects on Tiananmen Square, the experience of Chinese students in Australia, and why online education can never replace a sage on the stage

The iconic dictionary’s misogynist descriptions of female genitalia were ripe for revision, say Emma Rees and Ellie Stedall

Mounting workloads and mushrooming publication output are making the task of staying abreast of the latest developments in the literature ever more difficult for academics. Here, eight researchers reflect on their own approaches and offer their tips

The conservator of threatened language explains why two people are as important as 2 billion, from a linguistics point of view

Tributes paid to leading scholar of French colonial history

Staff hit out at ‘financial mismanagement’ as university announces plans to cut roughly a third of modern languages jobs

The credentialism that the late Ron Dore analysed in his seminal 1976 book has gone global, say Keith Lewin, Angela Little and Alison Wolf

Restrictions on use of federal money predicted to widen

Separate classes, often in English, mean European students are failing to learn their host country’s tongue, new book finds

Linguists also concerned about the creation of modern-language ‘deserts’