UNIVERSITIES have “betrayed” the study of foreign languages by “dumbing down” degrees to attract more students, says a new report.
The numbers of full-time undergraduate students studying languages in English universities has fallen by 5% and many departments have already closed, the report says.
It found the Government’s decision to make modern foreign languages optional at GCSE level has sent out a “powerful negative message”.
A drop in the numbers of pupils studying languages at GCSE and A-Level has meant the discipline is seen as a “diminishing field”, which has led to a “loss of status and often of funding”.
Professor Michael Worton’s report concludes there is great anxiety among language departments.
