Cross-Institutional Study for Languages: A Case Study in Ad Hoc Planning

Abstract

Higher education institutions often claim that their decision-making processes are driven by a concern for economic efficiency. This “efficiency” is often poorly defined. It has led some universities to reduce course offerings by sharing courses with neighbouring universities. Often, language courses have been chosen as the target. This chapter first presents a case study: data on the effects of replacing on-campus course delivery with cross-institutional arrangements, for Japanese language education between two universities in Canberra—the University of Canberra and the Australian National University. It then discusses what the resulting reduced number of language learners might mean, and the possible social costs of this change.