Close to half the number of universities offer language degrees than was the case 15 years ago. Angela Gallagher-Brett describes a programme aimed at halting the decline It has long been received wisdom in the UK that students find languages difficult and do not particularly want to learn them. In schools, concern has focused both on the significant drop in uptake of language GCSEs which followed the decision of the last Government to make them optional post-14 and on the collapse in A level numbers over a much longer period. Figures suggest that just 40 per cent of 16-year-olds sat a GCSE in a language in 2011 compared with 78 per cent in 2001. Worryingly, very few students then progress from GCSE to A level. In higher education (HE) there has been widespread anguish over declining mark