A cold spot analysis of language degrees in England by language: implications for sector leaders, government and universities

England has a language education crisis: only around 40% of people study languages beyond age 14, and many universities have stopped offering language degrees. For English universities with below average entry tariffs there are ‘cold spots’ – areas of the country where there is no university offering language degrees within a commutable distance – a social justice issue because it excludes under-represented groups from studying languages at university. But the geographic spread for individual languages has not been accurately described: are some languages clustered in universities in certain parts of the country, leaving cold spots in others? This research focused on degree programmes in the ten most widely-taught languages – Arabic, Chinese, Classics (Ancient Greek and Latin), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, plus British Sign Language and Korean - gathering more accurate data than that available through public data sets. The analysis showed generally good geographic dispersion with some cold spots in Arabic, British Sign Language, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean. Most worryingly, the entry tariff below which cold spots are a concern has risen to a tariff of grades AAB at A level. Recommendations are made for sector leaders, government and universities, including a fund for lower tariff universities in cold spots.