The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016 The Linguist 13 FEATURES A further impact of Brexit is uncertainty about the future of the Erasmus+ programme. A priority for lobbying by the University Council for Modern Languages (UCML) and UUK (which represents all UK universities), this has implications for the national Outward Mobility Strategy, which was established to ensure more UK students could gain international experience during their degree programmes. The UK's membership of Erasmus+ is currently included within our EU membership. Whether or not the government will negotiate to continue its participation in Erasmus+ is unknown. There are concerns that uncertainty over future arrangements will negatively affect applications to Higher Education languages courses by those for whom the availability of Erasmus+ funding for their year abroad was a motivator. It should be noted, however, that numerous students on language degrees spend part or all of their year abroad outside the Erasmus+ zone. Uncertainties over the future of Erasmus+ may also result in fewer European students wishing to spend a period in the UK, thus impoverishing the multilingual and multicultural nature of our campuses. That scenario is likely to be exacerbated should EU students be subjected to the higher 'international student' fee regimes for degrees in UK universities (they currently pay the same fees as UK domiciled students). National identity crisis The mood within the languages community has certainly been sombre in the first couple of months since the referendum result. Perceptions that the country is shifting towards an Anglophone isolationism run counter to the underlying principles of cross-cultural communication and understanding that are at the foundation of our professions and academic interests. It is estimated that 46% of academics in university language departments are originally from another EU country. This figure does not, however, include all of those teaching language courses in our universities. Many may feel they are 'unwelcome' in this country, even if there is currently no change to their status. Universities are, however, multinational communities, including academics from all over the world, not just from the EU. University staff are valued on their merits as professionals and it is vital that any such mood is countered by internal policies of inclusivity and by external lobbying by university vice chancellors (as, indeed, they are doing) in respect of our colleagues' rights to live and work in the UK. Following the referendum outcome, the UK is going through an identity crisis. While this primarily affects our relationships with both (the rest of) the EU and the world, the divisions exemplified in the referendum campaign also reflect a crisis of identity in relation to our own multicultural and multilingual society. Now, more than ever, there needs to be a national conversation about the place of multilingualism in the UK's future, however acquired and whichever languages are involved. This conversation cannot reside solely in the policies that apply to our statutory education system. As articulated in a recent policy report, The Value of Languages, by the Cambridge Public Policy Strategic Research Initiative, they must embrace every government department from the Foreign to the Home Office, from Defence to Business, and from Justice to Education. Pupils instantly announced that they no longer needed to attend their French, Spanish or German classes IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK