Denmark to stop its language boost: »Will affect students' results«

A unanimous Danish parliament opted in 2021 to give a financial boost to universities’ language programmes. Three years later, and the funds have now run out. But there is no sign of further financial support.

»Language provides access to knowledge, culture, and history, and is essential for Denmark’s trade and cooperation with the world,« was the original justification for the initiative, which aimed to make German and French language programmes more attractive.

But despite protests from various stakeholders in the form of opinion pieces, and an open letter from the DM trade union’s university section president Brian Arly to the Danish parliament, the language boost is not included in the new national budget.

Kirsten Kragh, Deputy Head of the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies (ENGEROM) at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), regrets the decision, and states that the funding has been invaluable for the programmes over the past three years.

A much-needed boost

According to Kirsten Kragh, language studies are both demanding and complex. In addition to mastering a foreign language, students must also immerse themselves in the culture and literature associated with it.

»It takes many hours to learn a new language. Just like learning to play an instrument, language studies have a skill-based dimension. There haven’t been sufficient resources to meet the actual need for language training,« says Kirsten Kragh, who believes the financial support was necessary.

The funds were largely used to develop and test new teaching methods, she explains. Specifically, smaller class groups were created, and students received more language practice hours.

Kirsten Kragh points out that students start their studies with very different language skills. Some have a background in the language from home, or have been on exchange programmes giving them a head start. Others come straight from secondary school.

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»It’s important that students with a secondary school language background can keep up. That’s why it makes sense to introduce level-based group teaching, particularly at the start of the programme, where students now receive a four-week intensive language boost at the beginning of their studies,« says Kirsten Kragh.

»The smaller groups create a safe learning environment and strengthen the sense of community within the programme.«

She adds that the funds have also been used to create a resource bank of learning materials to support students’ independent study. Additionally, all new students have been offered a tailored language school stay in Germany or France at the end of their first semester.

How has it worked?

According to Kirsten Kragh, the language boost has already had a noticeable impact on students’ evaluations of their studies.

»It has helped retain students and improved their academic confidence. In their evaluations, students report that they don’t understand how they could have completed their studies without the extra language practice hours.«

The initiative has also been well received by Kirsten Busch Nielsen, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), and Maja Horst, Dean of Arts at Aarhus University. They write in an opinion piece in Altinget:

»It takes time to master a foreign language to a level that fosters connection, trust, and respect. Ongoing evaluations show that the temporary funds make a significant difference.«

What happens now?

Asked about the consequences of the now-missing funds, Kirsten Kragh says:

»That’s an important but difficult question to answer. I feel sorry for the students. I imagine it will affect their final results.«

We’ve been very vocal about how valuable the work funded by the initiative has been.

Kirsten Kragh, Deputy Head of the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies

»We are, of course, puzzled by the decision to discontinue the funding. We know it works. Naturally, we’re exploring every option to maintain the initiatives. The positive experiences have been incorporated into the development of new study programmes, but it’s a challenging situation to secure more teaching hours without additional funding.«

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Kirsten Kragh acknowledges that the department can manage with fewer funds, partly because much of the language boost funding was used for developing new teaching methods. However, to ensure that the initiatives continue, additional financial support is needed.

Could you have done more to secure the extension of the funds?

»We’ve been very vocal about how valuable the work funded by the initiative has been. We’ve conducted evaluations, written articles, and held meetings with key figures in the system. So, I believe we’ve done what we could. But the message has to reach the right people.«