Research project: Community Languages in Higher Education

led by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS), in partnership with the University of Stirling

The aim of this study is to map provision for community languages in Higher Education, with the intention of:

Examining the extent to which current provision responds to the language needs and potential of England’s increasingly multilingual population;
Considering how provision can be developed to meet emerging demand for greater diversity in language provision in the business, public sector and aid and development fields.

Specifically, the study will do the following:

Map the current provision nationally, at degree and module level.
Analyse map data regionally and nationally:
To investigate the extent to which provision is responsive to local language communities, with a particular focus on enabling those who have studied community languages during their primary and secondary education (whether in mainstream or complementary classes) to continue their studies at a higher level; and
To consider the extent to which it takes into account the language needs of local, regional, national and multinational employers and communities, in both the public and the private sectors.
Make recommendations for the development of the interfaces between HE, FE and school provision of community languages.

The views expressed in the report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Routes into Languages or its members.

To order a print hard copy of the abridged report please email routes@soton.ac.uk