News from the British Academy

Born Global is a British Academy project on languages and employability, which set out to develop a deeper understanding of language needs for employment, employer attitudes to languages and how languages are used in the workplace for different purposes, by employees of different levels of skill and accountability. It has published a major new report – an open and free-to-use resource for the languages community: universities, teachers, employers, researchers, and students.

Results:

Employers in the Born Global surveys were asked to think about employability and job prospects for the current and next generations:

  • 70% of respondents to the Languages @ Work survey and 51% of SMEs agreed or agreed strongly that school and college leavers who only speak English are at a disadvantage in the jobs market.
  • 75% of respondents to the Languages @ Work survey and 53% of SMEs agreed or agreed strongly that graduates who only speak English are at disadvantage in the jobs market.
  • 95% of respondents to the Languages @ Work survey and 89% of SMEs agreed or agreed strongly that young people who speak a different language at home should regard bilingualism as an asset.

You can find more information, findings & results on the British Academy website