University “cold spots” are developing in some parts of the country, new data analysis suggests, with courses in some subjects no longer available to students in certain regions.
The new data tool, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) on Tuesday, showed a sharp decline in students taking French and other language courses in recent years.
But courses in other subjects, like artificial intelligence, showed a rapid rise over the same time period.
Universities have cut courses with low levels of enrolment with the sector facing growing financial challenges, while the government has announced yearly increases in tuition fees to help universities cope with the shortfalls.
The data published by Hesa showed the number of full-time students on courses in French studies had decreased from 9,700 in the 2012/13 academic year, to 3,700 by 2023/2024.
The number of those doing courses in language and area studies also decreased over that period, from 125,900 to 80,100.
The number of full-time students doing German and Scandinavian courses was at 1,400 in 2023/24, down from 3,900 in 2012/13.
But studies in artificial intelligence have skyrocketed over that 12-year period, with 1,800 full-time students in 2012/13, which dipped to just 900 the following year, but has since surged to 9,100 in 2023/24.
Universities grappling with financial deficits have cut courses and staff roles in courses with low student numbers.
In November, students and lecturers protested over the University of Nottingham’s decision to suspend its modern languages and music courses, with no new students set to be enrolled beyond 2026.
BBC News has reached out to the university for an update, but at the time a spokesperson said the courses were “unsustainable”, with many having fewer than 10 students enrolled, and that no final decision had yet been made.
They have previously said current students on courses at risk of closure would be supported to complete their studies.
Emma Walkers, course leader for modern languages at Bilborough Sixth Form College in Nottingham, said there would be nowhere local for her students to study languages at university if the cuts went ahead.
Publishing its new data tool, Hesa said the latest figures suggested that degree courses in French were no longer available to study in some locations, with student numbers now concentrated in London, Oxford, Bristol and Bath.
But with an increasing number of students wanting to live at home and commute to university to limit the cost of their studies, Emma says some of her students are being left with nowhere to go.
“Often, if a student is moving out of Nottingham, they’re going to end up moving to a more expensive city,” she said.
“If you’re coming from a family which isn’t particularly well-off, to then try to go to London or Bath or Bristol is a huge amount of money to try and find.”
She said the decline in student numbers for French and other language courses suggests languages are “just not valued at all”.
Catherine Richards, principal at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, which sits in another area with relatively low student enrolment numbers in language courses, believes the issue begins long before university.
“The challenge for places at higher education starts in primary school and the encouragement to do languages,” she says.
She says schools in her region are offering fewer languages at GCSE, which leads to fewer pupils taking them at A-levels and then going on to study them at university.
In German, she says course entry levels in schools and colleges across the county are so low “that it’s not a viable language anymore”.
That’s a “pity” because of the “great teachers” across the county, she added.
That sentiment is echoed by Prof René Koglbauer, former languages teacher and chair of trustees of the Association for Language Learning (ALL).
He says there are concerns that in regions without language provision at a university level, schools and sixth form colleges could stop offering A-level language courses too.
“If you then drop it at A-level, ultimately students may decide, ‘Well, if I can’t progress beyond GCSE, I’m not going to take that subject,'” he says.
“You can see the downward spiral.”
Many universities now offer “ab initio” undergraduate courses for languages, meaning you can start as a complete beginner – something Prof Koglbauer says has bolstered uptake.
These intensive programmes, along with joint honours options and the introduction of non-European languages like Arabic and Mandarin, are part of the strategy to keep language learning popular for undergraduate students.
But in order to solve the regional “cold spots”, Prof Koglbauer says universities may need to approach the issue differently.
He says the sector may “need to think more about working collaboratively and actually pool resources together” to reach students.
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