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Meeting the Current Challenges
Languages and employability, entrepreneurship and employer
engagement‘Languages for business and
employability’Linda Cadier
23rd October 2009
Languages for Business and Employability
Making the case for languages in a competitive knowledge-based economy
Making the case for languages in a competitive knowledge-based economy
What is business saying?
‘The UK places a premium on staff who can
communicate in a foreign language particularly when coupled with an understanding of overseas business
cultures’ CBI Education and Skills Survey, 2009
Employers and
business
Where and why are languages needed?
• Enterprise and Export Growth• Inward Investment• Tourism• Business Excellence• Skills for Employability• Social and Educational-value• Good relations in the workplace and the
community
Employers and
business
Languages for Export
• The common misconception is that English is generically the lingua franca of all international business
• 75% of the world’s population do not speak English as their first language
• Where the language of our customers is not English we sell more than we buy
• Small companies around the world do not always have access to English speakers
• Understanding the local and business culture is key and that often accompanies language learning
Employers and
business
Languages for Inward Investment
• Skills are a major determinant in Foreign Direct Investment decisions
‘Online retailer Amazon moves its European customer service centre from the UK to the Irish Republic, to take advantage of better language skills’ BBC News, March 2006
Employers and
business
Languages for 2012 and Tourism
• VisitBritain calculates a potential benefit of £2 billion for the visitor economy from overseas visitors
• 2012 is an opportunity for the UK ‘to shine’.
Employers and
business
Languages for Internationalisation
• UK companies limited by their lack of ambition and entrepreneurship to expand into non-English speaking markets
• UK executives able to negotiate in a language other than English is half the EU average
Employers and
business
Languages for UK’s multilingual and multicultural workforce
• Long term migration into the UK continues to grow
• Food, construction, retail, hospitality, tourism and public sectors operate in staff and client multilingual and multicultural environments
• Good communication is key for deliver of health and safety, effective communication and an inclusive service delivery
Employers and
business
Language Graduates
• Highly employable: strength of language degrees• Need for enterprise skills• Ability to speak another language is ‘critical to
success’, Korn/Ferry, 2005• Only one-third of UK graduates go abroad to work
compared to two-thirds of mainland European graduates
• Set in context of language skills of the UK as lowest in Europe
Graduates with languages
Making the Case for languages
• Understand the demand for languages and how to make the case to graduates
• Encourage languages and enterprise
• Subject Centre for Languages, LLAS• Routes into Languages• Links into Languages• Business Language Champions• Regional Language Networks
HEIs
Languages for Business and Employability
Making the case for languages in a competitive knowledge-based economy
Making the case for languages in a competitive knowledge-based economy
Contact details
Linda CadierSenior Adviser, Links into Languages
Subject Centre LLASUniversity of Southampton
Tel: 01425 656702Mb: 07974 201129
E-mail: [email protected]
References
CBI Education and Skills Survey, 2009Effects on the European Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise (ELAN):
Hagen, S . 2007Languages and Enterprise: Having an idea and making it happen, Kneale, P., Sim, P. Routes into
Languages, 2007Meeting the Global Challenge: The economic case for languages in the South East, SEEDA, 2007
available from www.cilt.org.uk/piblications : for employer and business references quoted in presentation
Subject Centre for Languages, LLAS www.llas.ac.ukLinks into Languages www.linksintolanguages.ac.ukRoutes into Languages www.rotiesintolanguages.ac.ukBusiness Language Champions http://www.cilt.org.uk/workplace/business_language_champions.aspxRegional Language Networks http://www.cilt.org.uk/workplace/employer_support/in_your_area.aspx British Chambers of Commerce www.britishchambers.org.uk
