Is there a mismatch between demand and supply of language skills?
These are the central questions of the study. There is consistent evidence that the overall supply of UK born and educated researchers with modern European language skills is insufficient to meet the overall demand, and declining. This undersupply affects research in many non-language disciplines as well as research in language disciplines. There is consistent evidence that the overall supply of non-UK born and educated researchers with modern European language skills is sufficient to meet the overall demand. There is some evidence to show that the mismatch between demand for and supply of researchers with language skills may differ between universities, with Russell Group universities relatively more able to attract researchers with the required language skills. This needs further investigation. If there is a mismatch, what are the reasons and the consequences? There are three main reasons for the undersupply of UK born and educated researchers with language skills: language teaching
