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
Mar 16, 2016
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
www.exeter.ac.uk/flc