The Born Global research project shared its findings
with the All-Party Parliamentary Group in October.
Bernardette Holmes and Philip Harding-Esch report
Inside parliament
S
et up in 2013, the British Academy-
funded policy research project,
Born Global, is looking at the extent
and nature of language needs in the UK
labour market. Bernardette Holmes MBE,
lead author of the final report, shared
some pre-publication insights with the
All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on
Modern Languages on 21 October.
The project carried out two extensive
surveys, and more than 50 interviews with
executives from businesses in the UK and
abroad, as well as cultural partners, industry
representatives, academics and students.
While UK businesses rarely offer remuneration
benefits for language skills, they are looking
for recruits who can operate across
languages and cultures in an increasingly
global and mobile labour market.
So who is responsible for giving employers
what they need? There is much that can, and
should, be done in schools and universities –
by students and their institutions. The new
GCSE and A-level curricula emphasise
cultural fluency as well as increased linguistic
fluency. But the research suggests that,
arguably, what is needed is for
entrepreneurship to be embedded
throughout education in order to foster a
culture of communication with people from
diverse communities, an international
outlook and intercultural understanding. In
addition, valuing the linguistic capital we
have within our student population and our
communities is important to ensure future
economic growth and social cohesion.
Languages as a subject need to do
better at marketing themselves. Students
often think too narrowly ("What jobs are
there for language graduates?") when they
should approach employers for graduate-
level roles in any career by demonstrating
not only the skills they have for that post
but also a host of extra skills they have
gained through a modern foreign language
(MFL) degree.
University careers advisers report that MFL
graduates tend to under-sell themselves and
may even omit communication skills from
their CVs. The University Council of Modern
6 The Linguist Vol/54 No/6 2015
www.ciol.org.uk
NEWS & EDITORIAL
Languages (UCML) commented that MFL
departments have worked hard in recent
years to show what an MFL degree consists
of and how it equips students with a wide
range of employability skills; but universities
cannot do it alone – a wider conversation is
needed. Businesses themselves should do
more to raise the perceived value of
languages too.
Despite the challenges, more than 90% of
businesses in this research agreed that
bilingualism is an asset: we certainly have
something to work with!
To attend the next meeting of the APPG
or to receive details of the speakers, email
philip.harding.esch@gmail.com. The 'Born
Global' final report will be available at
www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Born_Global.cfm.
Bernardette Holmes MBE is lead
researcher of Born Global and
Campaign Director at Speak to the Future,
the campaign for languages. Philip Harding-
Esch works on behalf of the British Council
to support the APPG on Modern Languages.
TL
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