As students return to their campuses, many will be wondering what sort of a job market they will find when they graduate. According to the Confederation of British Industry, recovery hinges on expanding exports. But the UK is being held back by a lack of language skills, crucial to doing business abroad. Lack of linguistic ability is acting as a "tax on UK trade" Our analysis shows that over the past 15 years, the number of universities offering German degrees has halved, while there are 40% fewer institutions at which to study French. And what particularly alarms language experts is the speed of decline since 2007. Whereas between 1998 and 2007 there was a 15% drop in French and a 26% decline in German courses, the pace of closures has escalated. There are now 29% fewer universities offering French and German than six years ago and 15% fewer offering Italian. Even Spanish, which held up well between 1998 and 2007, has suffered in recent years. Since 2007, the number of universities offering Spanish degrees has fallen by over a third. "If this rate of decline continues, two or three language departments will close every year and the remaining students will have a lot less choice, says Michael Kelly. theguardian/education/2013/oct/08/modern-foreign-language-degrees-axed
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 03:15:15 +0000
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