University proposes modern language teaching cuts

A university is proposing to cut the number of modern languages it teaches by more than half.

A spokesperson for the University of Essex (UoE) said it was "pleased" to keep French and Spanish as options for new students, but it was considering losing German, Italian and Portuguese.

Current and former academics have described the plan as "depressing" and "extremely saddening".

UoE, which has its main campus in Colchester, said it had to adapt to a "long-term drop" in the number of young people who wanted to study languages, and said it would ensure all current students could complete their courses.

UoE could also stop evening classes in Arabic, British Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish, currently available to all students.

In December 2025, the university announced it would be closing its Southend-on-Sea campus and axing 400 full-time jobs due to financial troubles.

A petition addressed to the executive committee asking it to reconsider has amassed more than one thousand signatures.

Linguistics and phonetics lecturer Charles Redmon, 37, said he had been told language and linguistics would merge with another unknown department that was "yet to be determined".

"Basically, they're saying that we should be grateful that they didn't cut all of the languages, but just cut all but two," he said.

"It feels [like] a combination of depressing and honestly embarrassing.

"The university where I did my PhD in the United States taught over 40 languages... you could take Tibetan and you could take Hindi.

"It's pretty atrocious if you think about the fact that the university will be left with less language provision than many schools have."

Former linguistics lecturer Claire Delle Luche left her role in January, after more than a decade at the university.

The 45-year-old felt the reduction in staff and increased workload had become "unsustainable".

She said UoE had once been "rebellious" and had offered more languages than other universities.

Delle Luche, who is from France, said the importance of language was greater in the UK due to its multiculturalism.

"This is extremely saddening because if British young adults only know English, what do they know of the world?" she said.

She added going abroad to learn would be a strain due to the cost of living, and that university courses were the best value for money in that sense.

"As part of learning a language at the university, students have the opportunity to get to spend a month, or two months, of their first summer at university in a city in a foreign country.

"They spend two months fully immersed, fully learning the language they want to learn the most."

A spokesperson for UoE said there would be "no change" for current modern language students, who would be able to complete their courses.

They added: "We're really pleased to be continuing to offer Spanish and French to new students as part of our commitment to maintaining a full range of academic disciplines at Essex, particularly at a time when many other UK universities are stopping language courses altogether.

"We have to adapt to a long-term reduction in the number of young people who want to study languages, and we are now focussing on how we can deliver an excellent student experience while maintaining our research strengths around language and linguistics."

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