Sustainable language programme design and management at a widening participation university

Levels of enrolment on language degree programmes are of concern in majority English-speaking countries. English universities with below average entry tariffs generally do not, or no longer, offer languages to degree level. Yet little research on curriculum design addresses this issue of declining student numbers and unsustainable courses. In this chapter, we reflect on our approach to designing and managing language programmes at York St John University, a small widening participation university. In 2017, 37 different language degree programmes were offered at York St John. However, only 52 first years enrolled, making the average programme size 1.4 students. This caused an unsustainable burden on timetabling, module choices, marketing, and quality assurance, negatively impacting the student experience. We replaced the 37 programmes with 5: one for British Sign Language and two each for Japanese and Korean. This led to an increased intake of first-year students to 165 in 2021. The new programmes are easy to administer, improving the student experience. We summarise our approach as follows: recognising the administrative burden and financial unsustainability of offering multiple small programmes, we analyse programme and module enrolment data to understand students’ preferences, then design one, or two, tailor-made programmes per language. In this chapter, we explore what is innovative about this approach, comparing it with research on curriculum/programme design and language education.