Post-16 (Further & Higher Education)

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) Strategic Review of Modern Languages at HE level

The Welsh Assembly Government's National Strategy for Modern Languages, Languages Count (2001), which established CILT Cymru as the main agent for the promotion of languages in Wales, laid down that there should be a Review of Modern in Welsh Higher Education Institutions (HE).

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales was given the job of conducting this Review in conjunction with Higher Education Wales (Committee of Vice-Chancellors) and CILT Cymru.

As the review specification explains, " The broad aims of the Review are to:

(i) investigate the current state of modern language provision in the higher education sector in Wales, including student recruitment and funding support issues. This should include modern language ITT provision in HEIs;

(ii) to consider past and future projected trends in the supply of, and demand for, such provision over a period of years and in comparison with similar provision across the UK and more widely;

(iii) to identify options for the maintenance and development of modern language provision in HEIs in Wales, taking account of the remit of the Welsh Assembly Government, focussing on the period to 2010. "

Early in 2004, after a process of inviting tenders and selection involving HEW and CILT Cymru, the Cardiff-based consultants Robert Huggins Associates, in association with Newidiem, were commissoned to undertake the Review.

• National documentation including statistical sources
  Visits to institutions
  
• Interviews with groups and individuals, including senior managers, teaching staff, students and employers.

The review process will progress by logical stages:

• An interim report to a Steering Group with HEFCW, HEW and CILT Cymru members
  
• Consultation of a Sounding Board with a wider membership
  
• A formal written report, due to be presented in the autunm of 2004

As Wales was the first country in the UK to publish a general national languages strategy, Languages Count, it is currently giving a lead in conducting a thorough review of HE Modern Languages, but of course in collaboration with colleagues in the other countries.