HEFCE has announced an additional £3.1 million to support a new programme of activity which will encourage more young people of all backgrounds to study languages at university.
From August 2013, a consortium led by the University of Southampton will deliver a three-year programme which builds upon the achievements of the Routes into Languages activities [Note 1] by stimulating new ideas and partnerships to address the challenges arising from reforms in schools and higher education. The new programme will encourage greater collaboration between universities, schools and employers, with the aim of raising aspirations and attainment of students in secondary schools and higher education. Activities will include events, the appointing of student ambassadors and sustained interventions such as programmes of languages in context and a national language-related Spelling Bee competition. There will also be a focus on increasing participation in work and study abroad, and promoting career opportunities and employability for language students.
Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, said:
    'Modern language skills are highly prized by employers. This additional funding will help thousands of prospective students learn more about the opportunities available, to gain a competitive edge in a global economy.'
Chris Millward, HEFCE Associate Director, said:
    ‘We are very pleased to continue our support for this important programme to raise demand from young people to study modern foreign languages. Employers have consistently highlighted the importance of languages and intercultural skills within a globalised labour force. The new programme’s activities will complement our recent funding settlement for the year abroad by promoting language-based studies, and study and work abroad, to students in all disciplines’.
Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Routes into Languages programme, said:
    ‘I am delighted that we shall be able to build on the remarkable achievements of Routes in promoting the study of languages. The HEFCE investment will facilitate a unique programme of collaboration between more than 60 universities across England, working with hundreds of schools and thousands of students. The new programme, co-ordinated by the team at the University of Southampton, will make a real impact on the take-up of languages and of opportunities to work and study abroad’.
Professor Jim Coleman, Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML), said:
    ‘HEFCE’s initiative underlines the enormous importance of language study in this country, and UCML’s members enthusiastically welcome this renewed support. University language departments are totally committed to championing language learning in schools, to maximising outward mobility and to increasing the take-up of languages by students in all disciplines. We are renewing language curricula and expanding access to provide graduates with the full range of capabilities which the job market demands. HEFCE’s backing helps us enormously in achieving these goals – this is a great day for languages’.
HEFCE is continuing to support modern foreign languages within its programme of support for strategically important and vulnerable subjects (SIVS) [Note 2]. Following advice from the SIVS Advisory Group [note 3], HEFCE is considering how collaborative provision may sustain the modern foreign language supply in higher education, despite the continued decline in applications to modern foreign language degree courses.
Notes
1. Since 2006 HEFCE has invested £7.4 million in demand-raising activity through the Routes into Languages programme as part of its wider support for modern foreign languages as a strategically important and vulnerable subject (SIVS). It is led by the UK Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies based at the University of Southampton, in partnership with the University Council of Modern Languages. The Routes into Languages programme comprises nine regional consortia of universities throughout England, plus national networks for translation, interpreting and research projects. Further information about the Routes into Languages programme is available.   
2. An evaluation of the Routes into Languages programme undertaken in 2011 concluded that the programme has made good progress against its aims, particularly in terms of increasing participation, raising the profile of languages and establishing partnerships and collaboration within the higher education sector and between higher education and schools. A wider evaluation of the SIVS programme commissioned in 2010 concluded that ‘the SIVS programme has cemented the importance of the SIVS subjects and [modern foreign languages] in particular’ and that the benefits and learning from the demand-raising interventions (which included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programme in addition to Routes into Languages) ‘represent value for money’ (‘Evaluation of HEFCE’s programme of support for Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects: A report to HEFCE by Curtis and Cartwright Consulting’, paragraphs 2.8.2 and 7.2.5).   
3. In January 2012 the HEFCE Board agreed a new policy approach to SIVS. Support will be continued for the relevant areas of science, technology, engineering, maths, modern foreign languages and quantitative social science, but HEFCE will seek more widely to identify and, where necessary, respond to risks to subject provision, while taking the government’s desire for greater dynamism within the higher education system into account. Further information about HEFCE’s work on SIVS is available.   
4. HEFCE’s SIVS advisory group reviews data and information relating to the sustainability of subjects, and provides advice and recommendations to the HEFCE Board regarding the identification, monitoring and support of SIVS. Further information about the SIVS advisory group, including its current membership, is available.  
5. A circular letter setting out the finance arrangements for Erasmus and other student mobility years abroad from 2013-14 has been published by HEFCE.

The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD)
Different European language communities speaking with one voice
The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) is a pan-European network created with the support of the European Commission and led by different state and regional governments comprising universities, associations and NGO’s working in the field of language policy and planning for Constitutional, Regional and Small-State Languages (CRSS) across Europe.
The NPLD works to raise awareness at a European level on the positive aspects of linguistic diversity, to portray languages as an opportunity for the personal, social and economic development of Europe and to exchange best practices among policy makers, practitioners, researchers and experts across Europe.
The NPLD includes a broad range of languages – from official EU languages such as Estonian, Irish, Swedish or Finnish – to languages with official statuts in their territories such as Basque, Catalan, Galician, Welsh, Frisian and other language communities without official recognition but highly vibrant such as Breton, Corsican, Occitan, Cornish or Sami, among others.
The NPLD is open to all CRSS language communities, including public bodies, institutions, associations, universities, and civil society working in the field of linguistic diversity and multilingualism across Europe.
For more information, visit the NPLD’s website.

L’Assemblée nationale examine à partir d’aujourd’hui, mercredi 22 mai, les 69 articles du projet de loi sur l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche présenté par Geneviève Fioraso. Certaines des dispositions qu’il contient divisent la majorité, les syndicats ou encore les milieux universitaires. Parmi eux, l’élargissement aux universités de la possibilité de dispenser des enseignements en anglais. Ce qui est en jeu, c’est la capacité de la France à occuper sa place dans la compétition internationale et à lutter contre les inégalités sociales. Pour cela, les universités doivent, au même titre que les grandes écoles, disposer de tout l’arsenal nécessaire.
Le projet de loi relatif à l’enseignement supérieur et à la recherche prévoit dans son article 2 de faciliter la mise en place d’enseignements délivrés en anglais. La loi Toubon du 4 août 1994, destinée à protéger le patrimoine linguistique français, avait posé le principe général d’utilisation du français à l’université. Des exceptions ont toutefois été accordées ou tolérées et nombreuses sont les grandes écoles qui dispensent aujourd’hui des enseignements en anglais. Suite de l'article...

Blog Educpros de Claude Lelièvre. Claude Allègre, alors qu’il était ministre de l’Education nationale, a déclaré le 29 avril 2001 sur France Inter: « La première priorité, c’est le français; la deuxième priorité, c’est de parler anglais; les langues régionales, cela vient après » tout en s’en prenant publiquement à l’ancien ministre socialiste de l’Education nationale Jack Lang « qui veut former des bergers parlant breton, alors que nous avons besoin d’informaticiens parlant anglais ».
Douze ans après, dans la discussion sur le projet de loi sur l’enseignement supérieur d’une part, et celle sur la « refondation de l’Ecole » d’autre part, on a des controverses très contrastées (aussi bien dans leur intensité que dans leur orientation).
L’article 2 du projet de loi sur l’enseignement supérieur (revenant sur la loi Toubon de 1994 et autorisant un enseignement en anglais à l’université) suscite une polémique passionnée (en dépit de l’argumentaire de la ministre Geneviève Fioraso indiquant que ces cours en anglais ne concerneraient que 1% de l’ensemble des cours, et pointant que « dans les grandes écoles on contrevient à la loi Toubon sans que personne y trouve rien à redire »). Suite de l'article...

By RFI. France's lower house on Thursday approved a plan to allow more courses to be taught in English at French universities, despite concerns that such a move might undermine efforts to promote the French language. The full bill is expected to be approved in the Assembly and the upper house Senate, where the ruling Socialists and their allies have majorities.
The vote followed two hours of heated debate, with lawmakers from the main right-wing opposition UMP saying the measure threatens France's identity. Read more...

You can’t have fun teaching online without getting your hands dirty!!
As an online teacher, a great part of my work involves utilizing the best educational tools for my content creation, content delivery, or to encourage active learning with students. I will describe them based on the needs of online teachers and/or classroom teachers who wish to integrate what they do with online technologies.
1) Virtual Classroom
I chose the WizIQ virtual classroom after much initial research for a number of reasons. First, I found it easier to use than other virtual classrooms back in the days when I was new to teaching online. I was also attracted by the e-teaching community on WizIQ and the fact that there is a very responsive support team for trouble shooting. Read more...

Orchestré par Marie-Violette Bernard. A l'initiative de Geneviève Fioraso, la ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur, un projet de loi sur le code de l'Education sera présenté le 22 mai prochain à l'Assemblée Nationale. Parmi les dizaines d'articles, le numéro 2  fait polémique depuis quelques semaines dans le monde universitaire. Ce dernier devrait en effet permettre l'emploi des langues étrangères, principalement l'anglais, dans les universités françaises. Actuellement, seuls les cours de langue ou ceux donnés par un intervenant étranger peuvent être dispensés dans une langue autre que le français, du fait de la loi Toubon de 1994. Suite de l'article... Faites progresser le débat...

Taghreedat, the largest Arabic crowd-sourcing initiative in the Middle East and North Africa, has announced a partnership with Coursera, the world’s leading Massive Open Online Course provider, to translate major international university courses across multiple disciplines for Arab students worldwide, for free.
Leading global universities, including Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Georgia, Duke, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Edinburgh, are offering a number of their courses for free on Coursera in English. With this partnership, some of the world’s top university courses will be accessible for free for all Arabic-speaking users.
Starting May 19, Taghreedat’s 9,000 translators, writers and editors in 37 countries worldwide will have a chance to translate two university courses, marking the official start of the collaboration with Coursera. Stanford University’s Math Think and Duke University’s Behavioral Economics will be the first two courses to be localized, with plans for more courses to follow.
A group of Taghreedat translation language moderators will be managing project quality in the following weeks to ensure the courses are localized accurately and are accent-free.
“This is a major milestone for Taghreedat, especially that we are looking at diversifying our localization project portfolio and focusing on Open Educational Resources as a strategic area that we are engaging our crowd-sourcing community in,” said Taghreedat co-founders Mina Takla and Sami Mubarak.
“2013 has been a very exciting year for Taghreedat, including collaborations with WhatsApp, Gameloft, the Wikimedia Foundation and Easy Chirp, in which over 8,000 Arabic translators have participated so far. Localization of apps and games are two new and very unique additions to the initiative’s contributions to Arabic digital content, and we have more ambitious plans for the rest of the year.”
The Taghreedat - Coursera collaboration is part of a larger global partnership that Coursera is announcing this week with more than 15 translation organizations worldwide to translate its courses into the most popular language markets reflected by Coursera students: Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Kazakh and Arabic. The majority of translated courses are expected to be available by Sept. 2013.
“The institutions that are providing translation services for our free online courses are helping to make the educational content on Coursera more accessible to the millions of people around the world who stand to benefit from these resources but are not fluent in English. The potential to impact global education is greatly elevated by our ability to bridge language barriers,” said Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller.
“Many of our students are already taking advantage of user-generated subtitles in our courses, and we believe that having translations will significantly improve the learning experience for non-native English speakers,” said Coursera co-CEO Andrew Ng. “By offering courses in more languages, we hope to provide quality educational opportunities to more of the students who need it most.”
Over the past few months, Coursera has welcomed 29 new universities to its platform, in addition to six educational institutions and museums, bringing the total number of participating institutions to 69. The new additions include 16 international schools that offer courses in Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish.

D'un côté, il y a les "pour", qui soutiennent le projet de loi et notamment l'article 2, qui prévoit l'introduction de cours en anglais à l'université. De l'autre, les "contre", farouchement opposés à la langue de Shakespeare comme langue d'enseignement. Le projet de loi sera débattu demain à l'Assemblée nationale. Malgré des réaménagements apportés la semaine passée, la polémique fait toujours rage…
Ils y tiennent à la loi Toubon! Ce texte, voté en 1994, prévoit en effet que le français demeure la seule langue des enseignements, examens, concours, ainsi que thèses et mémoires dans les établissements universitaires français. Geneviève Fioraso souhaiterait pourtant assouplir cette loi, par le biais de l'article 2 du projet de loi actuellement débattu. Celui-ci permettrait ainsi de "dispenser en langues étrangères une partie des enseignements" lorsqu'ils sont réalisés "dans le cadre d'accords avec des universités étrangères", ou lorsqu'ils sont "financés par l'Union européenne". L'enjeu d'une telle mesure est d'"améliorer l'attractivité de l'enseignement supérieur français vis-à-vis des étudiants étrangers", met en avant le ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur. Car ces derniers représentent actuellement 12% des effectifs globaux étudiants, et le gouvernement souhaite atteindre la barre des 15%! Suite de l'article...

By Edward Cody. There was a time, not so long ago, when anyone with a proper education spoke French. Diplomacy and business were conducted in French. Knowledge was spread in French. Travelers made their way in French, and, of course, lovers traded sweet nothings in French.
Viewed from France, the trouble with modern times is that many of those activities are now conducted in English, even by the French. In a country that cares so much about its language it maintains a whole ministry to promote it, that alone is enough to stir passionate debate in Paris — in French, naturally. But there is more.
Higher Education Minister Genevieve Fioraso this past week introduced a bill that would allow French universities to teach more courses in English, even when English is not the subject. The goal, she explained, is to attract more students from countries such as Brazil, China and India where English is widely taught but French is reserved largely for literature lovers. Read more...