Flagging up success: Language electives named on degree titles – the Exeter model.

Jonathan Lippman,

Director, Foreign Language Centre

LLAS Language Futures, 5-6 July 2012

Foreign Language Centre, University of Exeter

IWLP with c.1,000 UG students taking language modules for credit

French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish.

80% take modules @ 30 credits (out of 120 credits per year)

What is ‘with proficiency in…’?

option to have language named in degree title

e.g. BA (Hons) History with proficiency in Spanish.

achieve minimum of 60 credits in one language, with 30 credits at level 2 or higher.

ab initio or develop existing language

Benefits of ‘with proficiency in…’

motivation to choose language for credit

retention in subsequent year/s

formal recognition of achievement

future ‘global citizens’

Marketing and Recruitment

Employability

Employability

"Language skills are becoming increasingly valued in the business world, with 74 per cent of UK employers specifying that they are looking for conversational language skills when they recruit new staff." CILT, The National Centre for Languages, 29/10/09

Implementation of ‘with proficiency in…’

approved internally in 2008/09 (via Board of the Faculty of Taught Programmes and DVC Education)

introduced for graduating cohort in 2009/10

slow take up initially

currently around 150 students request

‘with proficiency in…’

Example degree titles

•History and Middle East Politics with proficiency in French• Mathematics with proficiency in Italian

•Classical Studies and Philosophy with proficiency in Chinese •Economics with proficiency in German

•Biological Sciences with proficiency in Japanese•Management with Tourism with proficiency in Spanish

‘with proficiency in…’

Requests by language 11/12

• French = 33%• German = 8%• Italian = 9%

• Japanese = 5%• Mandarin Chinese = 9%

• Spanish = 36%•

Key internal drivers?

Buy-in at institutional level

NSS / KIS learning and teaching benefits?

Internationalisation & Employability Agendas

Modularity?

Marketing

key ‘message’ for current & prospective students

via Admissions, write to all incoming Y1 students

advertised and marketed internally (website, leaflets, Facebook etc)

reminders to all Final Year students

Issues

managing expectations (module viability, thinking 1 year ahead)

restricted modularity on some programmes

ensuring students aware of it from pre-entry stage

how proficient is proficient?

Future developments?

Engage with employers

Testimonials from alumni

Introduction of similar awards at other HEIs e.g. Surrey Global Graduate Award, Sussex ‘with proficiency in…’

Questions?

Contact Details

Jonathan Lippman

j.lippman@exeter.ac.uk

www.exeter.ac.uk/flc