So here we are once more. After vigorous and partially successful attempts to save modern languages degrees at Cardiff University and the University of Aberdeen in the past two years, linguists are now called upon to point out the equally obvious folly of cutting modern languages at the universities of and . As a who evidently hadn’t done much French at school once said, it’s déjà vu all over again.

On 25 November, the Council of the University of Nottingham will discuss the plan to suspend all Nottingham’s undergraduate degrees in modern languages and cultures – as well as in music, nursing and various other subjects – for 2026/27 entry. That bombshell came hot on the heels of news from the University of Leicester of the proposed closure of modern languages and the withdrawal of all courses from next year.

Once again, the lack of regulation in the university sector has thrown up the risk of creating disciplinary “cold spots”; if the proposals are adopted, students in the East Midlands will no longer have a local opportunity to develop an integrated knowledge of languages and cultures.

Nottingham is arguing that, seriously affected by rising costs and falling revenues, it has little option but to suspend courses that generate lower research income and for which demand among students and employers is projected to fall. It has also stated that it is taking into account what is happening at other institutions, both locally and across the UK.

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In the case of research, 51�Թ�’s ranking of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework by grade point average placed Nottingham sixth, well above many of its Russell Group competitors. Members of the department have been particularly successful in securing some important grants over the past few years. Similarly, Leicester linguists were part of one of the institution’s highest performing REF units and were ranked 12th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide.

The prediction of falling demand from employers for linguists, meanwhile, is astounding in its inaccuracy. Although AI can increasingly automate certain forms of translation and interpretation, there can be no substitute for the cultural understanding and personal rapport that language graduates can offer.

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Earlier this year, for example, the Higher Education Policy Institute by staff at the German Embassy in London and the German Academic Exchange Service about why German matters. Beyond the obvious facts that knowledge of languages facilitates intercultural cooperation and exchange, promotes opportunities in all spheres of life and enhances creativity, proficiency in German matters because Germany is the UK’s second-largest goods trading partner. Hence, for students, a strong command of the language offers a competitive advantage across a . And the companies that hire them are likely to see their investment pay off many times over; a 2022 estimated that the UK economy would receive an annual £19 billion boost if language barriers with Arabic-, Chinese-, French- and Spanish-speaking countries were eliminated.

Expertise in languages and cultures is also essential for security in a world of collapsing multilateralism and heightening global tension. In June, then foreign secretary David Lammy about the UK’s ‘‘profound lack of confidence in how to deal with China, and a profound lack of knowledge regarding China’s culture, its history and – most importantly – its language”.

Yet the UK is not short of natural linguistic resources. One in five school-aged children have a first language other than English – even more in such culturally diverse cities as Leicester and Nottingham. The threat to languages is particularly ironic given Nottingham’s strategy, which promises a vision of a “university without borders” and Leicester’s “Citizens of Change” agenda, aiming to promote global citizenship and inclusivity.

The question of student demand is more complex. There is no doubt that the decision of the Labour government in 2004 to end the compulsory study of a language to GCSE level has had an effect on enrolment to modern languages degrees. But we also know that many schools, particularly in deprived areas, struggle to offer languages at all; small wonder that few of their pupils think of studying a language at university.

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Moreover, given that the UK needs more graduates with languages qualifications, the task of universities is not to accelerate the decline of language learning but to find ways to . They can and do accomplish this in a number of ways: by offering opportunities to study languages from scratch; by demonstrating the relevance of their courses to societal issues of undeniable urgency; by promoting the study of languages and cultures in a global perspective; and by forming regional alliances.

Every university should renovate the disciplinary framework of its courses and continually ask whether it is responding to its global responsibilities. But no university that does so in a robust and principled way should recognise any merit in withdrawing from the engaged and purposeful study of other languages, cultures and societies.

It is to be hoped that, like others before them, the governing bodies of the universities of both Leicester and Nottingham recognise the wrongheadedness of such suggestions – and overturn them.

is emerita professor of French philology and linguistics at the University of Cambridge. is professor of Italian and director of the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. is professor of Medieval French at the University of Leeds and chair of the University Council For Languages (UCFL). is professor of Spanish and applied linguistics at Durham University and vice-chair of UCFL.

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