As many as 40% of university language departments are likely to

close within a decade, the former government adviser charged with

bolstering foreign language uptake in higher education has warned,

delivering a huge blow to the UK’s diplomatic and economic hopes.

Amid a deepening crisis in a language learning—which is causing 【M1】__________

alarm at highest levels of government—the number of universities 【M2】__________

offering degrees in modern languages have already plunged from 105 in 【M3】__________

2000 to 62 at the start of this academic year.

The rate of attrition is expected to continue into the next decade. A

further 20 departments will be vulnerable to close in the next 10 years, 【M4】__________

and there is growing concern that the pace of decline is set to quicken, 【M5】__________

according to Professor Mike Kelly, a former adviser on the Department

for Education’s steering group on languages and now head of the

government-funded Routes into Languages programme co-ordinating

attempts to increase the uptake of language degrees in England.

Huge areas of the country are being left without any degree-level

language courses, which in turn is increasing the number of language 【M6】__________

teachers in schools, compounding the crisis. Last week it emerged that

A-level candidates for French and German fell by 50% between 1996 to 【M7】__________

2012.

The Foreign Office has become increasingly concerning about the 【M8】__________

future of its diplomatic corps, with senior figures privately voicing

urgent concerns about the standard of their graduate recruits. It has built 【M9】__________

its own languages school and is spending ￡lm a year to bring the civil

service upon to scratch. 【M10】_________

【M8】