This article warns that UK universities are rapidly cutting modern language degrees just as the government desperately needs more specialists. Nottingham and Leicester are the latest institutions to scale back language programmes, following several others. While universities face financial pressures, the decline in foreign-language training is alarming given Britain’s security, diplomatic and defence needs. Despite long-standing recommendations to strengthen links between academia and government, little has changed. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continues to rely on costly but ineffective internal training: large proportions of diplomats studying Arabic, Mandarin and Russian fail to reach required standards, wasting millions. Meanwhile, student demand for languages has fallen sharply, partly because the government does not signal that language skills lead to valuable careers. The author argues that the UK needs strong government-university cooperation, including new incentives such as language-focused apprenticeships and fast-track civil service routes, to rebuild the national pipeline of linguists.
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