Middle East studies in the News

More Students, More Languages [discusses Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, et al.]

by Elizabeth Redden
Inside Higher Ed
November 14, 2007

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/14/languages

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/4444

Overall enrollments in languages other than English continue their steady climb, increasing by 12.9 percent from 2002 to 2006, with the most dramatic growth seen in the study of Arabic (up 126.5 percent) and Chinese (up 51 percent), according to the Modern Language Association's survey on "Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2006."

"As a professor of French, I'm reassured that the traditional languages are holding their own. But I'm really impressed with the increased enrollment in languages we thought of as very difficult. They still are, but students are willing to put in the effort," Catherine Porter, second vice president of the MLA and professor emerita at the State University of New York at Cortland, said during a telephone press conference Tuesday about the results of the survey, which had a 99.8 percent return rate among 2,801 colleges and universities.

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Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

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