By Anna Codrea-RadoOver the last few days, a Guardian investigation has revealed that modern foreign language departments are closing at an alarming rate. Here's a summary of the key facts. By Roger KingThe case for a new higher education bill is clear, says Roger King. Without it we're in danger of fire without a fire brigade. Higher education has undergone dramatic change since the formation of the coalition. Since the publication of the 2011 white paper, Higher education: students at the heart of the system, there has been significant acceleration away from a supply-led system to a demand-led one. Read more...You highlight valid concerns about language learning but portray a rather limited sense of what a modern languages degree embraces (Plunge in language degrees blamed on A-level marking, 8 October). The decline of those taking languages at A-level and subsequently university level compels Professor Kohl of Oxford to to declare, rather prematurely, that languages might soon be the "prerogative of the privately educated elite, and language degrees are restricted to Russell Group universities". This is not the case. Read more...By Nicole FroioDemand for counselling services on campuses in the UK has risen by a third since 2008 according to a new investigation. By Aarya MishraWe are often told that Oxbridge is the best, but there are many other UK universities that offer a world class education. By Six UK universities have set up campus in Uzbekistan, a country with a poor human rights record – is the higher education sector sacrificing ethics in pursuit of international growth? 
By Clare Matterson. Public engagement should be an integral part of research, not an unpaid hobby, which is why the Wellcome Trust has decided to invest £4.5m a year in it. There's an app that you might have seen, or even played – The Great Brain Experiment. It's cute, quirky and pretty addictive. Every time I turn on my iPad I find my children have been having a go (perhaps making me look far more mentally agile than I am). So far, over 40,000 people have downloaded and played the app. Among its deceptively simple games is one in which you have to grab apples as they fall from a tree – but beware the apples that turn rotten as they fall.
The willingness of Ofqual, the exam regulator, to engage with the modern foreign languages community is most welcome, and it is to be hoped that other institutions concerned with language provision in the UK will follow suit. Andrew Smith, the Labour MP for Oxford East, has put down parliamentary questions for 14 October, pressing the government to strengthen modern language provision and uptake at secondary and tertiary level, and asking how it will ensure that any gains in modern language learning in primary schools translate into enhanced uptake in secondaries. Schoolteachers and university teachers of modern languages are invited to get involved in the initiative, Joining up MFL Teaching in the UK, by sending an email to the following address: mfl@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
Professor Katrin Kohl
Vice-chair, modern languages, University of Oxford
By Chris Parr. The University of Central Lancashire is to begin offering academic credit for courses that students complete for free online.
It is thought to be the first UK institution to allow massive open online courses – known as Moocs – to count towards a university qualification, regardless of which university developed the original course. Edge Hill announced a for-credit Mooc in May, however the course was developed in-house, and those wishing to receive academic credit are required to pay a small fee, meaning it is not technically “open”. More...
By Jack Grove. Measures to tackle illegal immigration are “discriminatory” to international students and send the message that they are not welcome in the UK.
That is the reaction of the National Union of Students Under to planned laws unveiled in the Immigration Bill on 10 October. Under the proposals, landlords will need to check the immigration status of potential tenants and temporary migrants, including overseas students, will be required to pay a charge to access NHS services. However, the proposals have been branded “unworkable, expensive and discriminatory” by Daniel Stevens, international students officers at the NUS. More...
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