An influential group of experts is putting pressure on the Scottish Government to take urgent action to make Scotland more multilingual.

Figures show that the number of school pupils taking modern language Highers has slumped by nearly 60% since the 1970s. The group has highlighted an "apartheid" in foreign language study in Scottish universities and fear the nation is becoming less competitive in the global economy as a result.

Other experts have observed what is described as "a worrying trend" towards the increasing dominance of French, which is the result of having a large pool of teachers, rather than demand. Scottish Enterprise said that Mandarin and Russian would be the most relevant to the Scottish economy.

Dr Murray Hill, the Scottish representative on the UK Standing Conference of Heads of Modern Languages in Universities is spearheading the campaign.

He has gained support from heavyweight language and industry groups in calling for the Scottish Government to implement an effective strategy with funding support to halt the decline, believing the nation is being left behind by European neighbours.

The campaign, which is due to be discussed by the Scottish Parliament's education, lifelong learning and culture committee on Wednesday, has the support of industry bodies such as Scottish Enterprise, which raised concerns of a "lack of hard evidence" of foreign language abilities within the general population.

A submission to the Scottish Parliament points to the number of pupils taking Highers in modern languages having fallen "very substantially" over the last three decades.

In 1976, there were almost 16000 presentations for the main modern languages - French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish - but in 2006, there were fewer than 7000.

The number of undergraduates studying languages in Scottish universities was also on the decline, falling from 2425 in 2002/3 to 2150 in 2005/6. A study by the University and College Union found that from 1998 to 2007 the number of French language courses being taught at Scottish universities had dropped by 10%, while the number of German degrees decreased by 20%.

Dr Hill's concerns about higher education come from developments in recent years in which Queen Margaret University College, Dundee University and Abertay University have either ceased or curtailed language provision, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen has halted "with languages" joint degrees, while Stirling University has discontinued the study of German.

The Scottish Centre for Information on Languages Teaching and Research said there was an urgent need to promote and develop provision for language learning across all sectors, from primary to adult education.

"Scotland is not currently in a good position to take advantage of the economic, cultural, social and democratic opportunities which a greater national competence in languages other than English would bring," said Joanna McPake, director of the centre.

Jack Perry, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said: "To enable us to pitch for further multilingual businesses within an ever-changing mobile global service delivery model, we need more robust evidence that Scotland has the critical mass of language skills to make us competitive."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "Every school pupil in Scotland studies a modern language from Primary 6 and the vast majority continue until they are 16.

"Our ongoing curriculum review will ensure we keep these subjects engaging."



It's important to communicate with people from other nations'

Teenager Sinead Corbet may be looking to a career in medicine but she is clear another language is a key component in her future development.

The S6 student is one of around 80 who will be sitting Highers in modern langugages at Williamwood High, one of Scotland's top-performing state schools which has long encouraged pupils to master another tongue.

Teachers at the coveted East Renfrewshire secondary believe it is bucking the trend with one in five students in S5 and S6 being presented for language Highers.

Explaining her decision to take French, the 17-year-old said: "I think it is important to communicate with people from other nations and know what is going on in other parts of the world. I have applied for medicine and although there is not a direct link to languages I would like to do a stint in France with medicine later on."

Shona Hugh was taken on at Williamwood as principal teacher of modern languages and international education in May last year. She said: "Parents are often surprised by the fact employers are willing to give up to 20% extra on a salary to somebody who can offer a language as an extra tool."