Erasmus Scheme’s ‘unfairness gap’ criticised

The Erasmus Scheme was set up in 1987 with the admirable aim of increasing academic mobility within Europe.

Via the funding of exchange programmes for students and staff, the scheme involves 90 per cent of all European universities and colleges across 31 countries.

However, as it approaches its quarter-century, the equitability of the scheme is a matter of debate, and it remains unclear whether students in some participating countries – rich or poor – get as much out of it as those from others.


Times Higher Education

Report criticises GCSE languages tuition

Some state secondary schools do not have a single pupil taking a modern foreign languages GCSE, inspectors reveal today.

A report by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog,.reveals that two-thirds of secondary schools have failed to reach a benchmark set by the previous Government that half their pupils should study a modern foreign language at GCSE.

The Independent

What to do with a degree in American studies?

It's a big draw and living the American dream need not be out of reach

The Guardian

European languages applications to university decline, despite overall increase

Young people denied a place to study last autumn are fuelling a surge in university applications for the coming academic year, ahead of tuition fees rise in 2012, Ucas figures show

Applicants' subject choices indicate a decline in European languages, which dipped by 1.4%,

The Guardian

More students choose languages in broader curriculum

Aberdeen: The total number studying French, Gaelic, German and Spanish has risen to 1,726, with the overall number of first-year language course enrolments increasing to 2,115 when Latin, Arabic and Mandarin are taken into account.

The figures come during a period of general decline in the number of students studying language degrees in the UK. In 2009, Michael Kelly, director of the UK Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, estimated that just 2 to 2.5 per cent of students chose modern language degrees.

Times Higher Education

Discover Japanese Studies website launched

The British Association for Japanese Studies has launched a website Discover Japanese Studies. www.discoverjapanesestudies.org is aimed at students who are interested in studying Japan and the Japanese language.

In Study Abroad, Simple Is Sophisticated

My field, study abroad, is far from simple, and if you follow the buzz, you probably know how "unsophisticated" it can be. A recent study at the University of Washington, published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, found that many American students double their alcohol consumption while studying abroad in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand. Study abroad has long been associated with partying and, as a recent article in The Chronicle put it, "a perk for wealthy students at selective colleges."

This is disappointing because many of us who work with college students, or send them to other countries to study, have higher aspirations for their international experience than drinking more alcohol or backpacking around Europe. We see study abroad as education, not vacation, and we honestly believe that the study-abroad experience has the potential to change lives, and the world, for the better.


Chronicle of Higher Education