Born Global

What is Born Global?

Born Global is an open and free-to-use resource for the languages community: universities, teachers, employers, researchers, and students.

We have collected data, both quantitative and qualitative, on the complex relationships between language learning and employability.

All the data is published in full and each data set is accompanied by a booklet with background information and a summary of key findings. We invite the language community to use our evidence to help make the case for the importance of languages – from teaching at primary school right through to university research.

The Academy has used this evidence in its own report, Born Global: Implications for Higher Education, offering some reflections on the current state of play for languages at university.

The evidence

The British Academy commissioned the following research:

SME Omnibus Survey

Purpose: to find out more about Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) language needs and how they are met, as well as employer attitudes to languages and their perceived benefits to individuals, their organisations and the UK economy.

In Autumn 2014, the British Academy commissioned a bespoke survey of 410 UK SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises). The sample was nationally representative, in terms of sector, size and location.

• Summary and key findings
• Presentation slides of findings
• Raw data (Excel)

Languages at Work Survey

Purpose: to find out more about how, where, at what level and for what purpose languages are used in the workplace.

In October 2014, the British Academy in collaboration with the Education and Employers Task Force carried out a survey of the Inspiring the Future Network, a network of individuals from a range of sectors who use languages in the workplace.

• Summary and key findings
• Presentation slides of findings
• Answers to free-form question

Bringing Languages to Life

Purpose: to find out more about multilingual employees attitudes towards and perceptions of languages and their benefits to individuals in the workplace.

An in-depth look at 10 respondents to the Languages at Work survey.

• Bringing Languages to Life booklet

Study of a cohort of Institution Wide Language Programme (IWLP) students at LSE

Purpose: to document and analyse IWLP students motivations, attitudes and progress.

The British Academy commissioned the London School of Economics to follow a cohort of IWLP students in the academic year 2014 – 2015 to document and analyse their motivations, attitudes, and progress.

• Summary and key findings
• Full report

British Cohort Study analysis

Purpose: to see if language study was linked to labour market advantages such as wage premiums, employment outcomes and job satisfaction.

In 2014, the British Academy commissioned the Education and Employers Taskforce to analyse the British Cohort Study (BCS) longitudinal data set to see if language study was linked to labour market advantages such as wage premiums, employment outcomes and job satisfaction.

• Summary and key findings
• Full report

How to use the Born Global evidence

Born Global is an open and free-to-use resource. The data is available to any organisation or individual, and we encourage you to make use of it.

As part of this we encourage the languages community (universities, teachers, employers, researchers, and students) to use the evidence to help make the case for the importance of languages – from teaching at primary school right through to university research.

Please get in touch if you are planning to publish a report / produce an analysis of the data. The British Academy will support these endeavours through promotion of the work.

Please include the following disclaimer when using the data:

“The British Academy does not automatically endorse the findings of secondary analysis of the Born Global data by third parties.”

Please refer to the data as:

“British Academy Born Global data”

When referring to the project, please use the following:

“Born Global is a British Academy project on languages and employability.”

or

“Born Global is a British Academy project on language skills for employability, trade and business.”

Please see the British Academy’s own report Born Global: Implications for Higher Education for an example of how the data can be used.