Cutting language courses puts social mobility at risk, say UK experts

The University of Nottingham may become the only Russell Group university not to teach modern foreign languages degrees. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The University of Nottingham may become the only Russell Group university not to teach modern foreign languages degrees. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The Guardian Cutting language courses puts social mobility at risk, say UK experts Exclusive: University moves and falling exam entries fuel concerns about opportunities for working-class pupils Cutting language courses at universities and schools risks undermining social mobility and vocational skills, former education secretaries and experts in the UK have warned. More than 70 languages academics were among 500 staff at the University of Exeter to be told last week they were at risk of redundancy as it seeks to cut 150 full-time posts , predominantly in the humanities. The announcement followed the proposal by the University of Nottingham to become the first Russell Group university to offer no language degrees . The cuts come against a backdrop of increasingly difficult university finances and years of falling GCSE and A-level entries, which have exacerbated inequalities. Languages are now compulsory for all pupils at GCSE in only 22% of state secondaries, compared with 41% of independent schools, according to this year’s Language Trends survey. Former education ministers and other experts said the downgrading of languages at elite universities could further harm the life chances of pupils, in particular those from working-class backgrounds. David Blunkett, the Labour education secretary from 1997 to 2001, said: “Instead of the current tendency to go for retrenchment as the only way of balancing the books, we need universities to think really creatively. [Cutting courses] precludes you from a joined-up approach to learning. If you haven’t got a language faculty any longer in the university, it can’t link with tech and engineering, and digital, and all the other possibilities that now exist.” View image in fullscreen David Blunkett described cutting language degrees as ‘a missed opportunity’. Photograph: Roger Harris Scrapping language degrees was therefore “a missed opportunity” to improve social mobility, he added, “but it needs to be linked with the revitalisation of languages in the school system, so you’ve got a pipeline”. Estelle Morris, his successor, said: “It’s a terrible message – these are our country’s leading universities. I’d like to think that they felt they had a role to play in the solution, not make it even worse. If Nottingham or anywhere else closes down a modern foreign language degree, middle-class children might go elsewhere. But working-class children won’t. “They will be more likely to choose a subject available to them locally. And then all the skills and job opportunities modern foreign languages give go out of the window because those pupils haven’t taken a degree.” The warnings come as Gu