Language programmes in Denmark are facing a ¡°critical moment¡±, scholars have warned, with??revealing a 19 per cent drop since the last academic year.

In the first year that admissions were affected by a reduction in undergraduate intake as part of?Denmark¡¯s 2023 university reforms, the almost 60,000 incoming students showed a strong inclination towards professionally oriented courses.

The most popular programmes were education, engineering, nursing, civil engineering and business economics, the education ministry said.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes, ¡°where good employment opportunities are expected after graduation¡±, also saw high enrolment numbers, admitting 15,500 students.

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The reforms appeared to have?contributed to a?large drop in languages admissions, according to Maja Horst, dean of Aarhus University¡¯s faculty of arts.

¡°CBS [Copenhagen Business School] has chosen to implement this by closing language programmes,¡± she said.

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The most significantly impacted language programmes were those that combined languages with business administration.

Christina Egelund, minister of education and research, said she was ¡°deeply concerned¡± about the drop, promising to ¡°look at what is needed to reverse the trend¡±.

The changes were, however, only the latest issue to impact language enrolments in Denmark, with experts pointing to several long-running factors.

For Aarhus, Horst said, ¡°our main problem is a lack of students applying to the programmes. We enrol all the students we can in most of our language programmes¡±.

¡°A number of programmes have already been closed,¡± added Horst. This year, for instance, ¡°we have stopped the programme focused on India and Brazil, as we have had three or less students apply in the last years¡±.

The university has also recently reformed its Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German, French and Spanish programmes. ¡°We sincerely hope we can keep them all alive,¡± Horst told?THE. ¡°It¡¯s the best we can do, but I am worried when I see this year¡¯s application numbers.¡±

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Brian Arly Jacobsen, chair of the DM labour union¡¯s university branch, said it was a ¡°critical moment,¡± for language courses.

¡°Language education is not just about careers ¨C it¡¯s about how Denmark understands the world,¡± he said.

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Jacobsen added: ¡°If we allow more closures, we risk becoming dependent on others for information, perspective and engagement. A country that cannot speak the world¡¯s languages cannot understand the world ¨C and cannot shape its future in it.¡±

Mette Skovgaard Andersen of the Danish National Centre for Foreign Languages attributed the decline in language admissions in part to a 2005 change in high school curriculums. ¡°The decrease also seems to be connected with the increased priority given to English by politicians,¡± she said. ¡°The young people apparently understood this as if English was?the?language to learn and as if they shouldn¡¯t bother learning other foreign languages.¡±

¡°If [enrolment] numbers continue to fall, the universities will have to close further language programmes because it will be too expensive to keep them running,¡± Andersen said. ¡°Over?the past 10 years more than 30 programmes for or involving foreign languages to some degree have been discontinued.¡± Danish high schools, she added, will face a shortage of language teachers, particularly in German and French.

¡°We do think that it is possible to change the situation,¡± Andersen stressed. ¡°The government can ensure good framework conditions ¨C economically, organisationally as well as practically.¡±

Horst called for the government ¡°to realise that language programmes are more expensive¡±.

¡°Currently, we get the lowest amount of money for these programmes, but they should really be compared to laboratory programmes in, for instance, chemistry and physics, because we also need laboratory teaching conditions like smaller classes and much teacher contact¡±.

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Moreover, Denmark has ¡°experienced ¡®humanities bashing¡¯ over the last decade, where many politicians and other decision-makers have talked about humanities subjects as useless and leading to unemployment¡±, Horst said. ¡°It would be nice if politicians and other decision-makers stopped talking so negatively about humanities subjects.¡±

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com