Widening participation in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

The UK government has set a target that 50% of 18-30 year-olds will experience Higher Education by 2010. The government is especially keen to increase participation amongst groups traditionally under-represented in Higher Education. These include people from low-income socio-economic backgrounds, people from some ethnic minority groups, and disabled people.

Unfortunately, all three of our subject areas have poor profile in terms of widening participation. The three lowest income socio-economic groups and non-white applicants for LLAS degrees are highly under-represented in all three of our discipline areas. The over-reliance on middle-class, white students is a cause for concern.

Recruitment, particularly in languages, has been a central concern for teaching staff in our subject areas. Widening participation offers the opportunity to recruit from a wider range of prospective students. It is also important to note that as the Higher Education sector as a whole expands, it will probably be necessary to increase the numbers of students studying LLAS subjects in order to maintain current levels of provision and staffing.

	Socio-economic groups 5,6,7 (%)	Non-white (%)
European Languages and Literatures (R)	14.5	8.1
Linguistics	15.8	8.5
Non-European Languages and related (includes American Studies and African Studies) (T)	12.4	11.3
All subjects	18.9	16.7

Source: UCAS Degree accepts (www.ucas.ac.uk).

For further information or to suggest ways in which the Subject Centre could support teaching staff with Widening Participation, please contact John Canning. j.canning@soton.ac.uk . We are particular eager to hear about the work colleagues are doing to widen participation in LLAS subjects.