The interest of new generations of students in traditionally-structured language and culture degree programmes has been declining for some time. However, research has shown that there are many students with an interest in language who are looking for socially relevant themes and impact, as well as clear career prospects. At the same time, there is still an unabated need in society – especially with the emergence of AI – for specialists in language and intercultural communication within the fields of international politics, economics and policy.

The innovative premise of the new degree programme is to connect language and cultural expertise with more social issues. We expect this to appeal to a larger group of prospective students, both those with a traditional interest, as well as those with a broader interest, in languages. The new programme includes broad themes like international relations, diplomacy, technology, communication, culture and region, where expertise in one or more languages serves as the backbone.

In this programme, students will learn to understand the world in its cultural and linguistic diversity. They will also learn ways in which they themselves can contribute to bridging differences – for example, by using stories and technology creatively, by participating in policy-making in a culturally sensitive manner or by learning a new language. The programme will offer scope for the same, or even greater, language proficiency than in existing degree programmes and includes a significant proportion of language-specific teaching. The student's linguistic expertise will be clearly recognisable in their graduation profile. After completing this study, students with a unique perspective on the world can progress to an educational Master's degree or a Master's degree in literature or linguistics, among numerous other possibilities.

A broad project group led by Jan Rock has proposed a programme design with a detailed elaboration of the objectives, exit qualifications, tracks and learning trajectories of the new programme. This design now forms the basis for building on the new programme further in collaboration with the various talent teams. In the coming period, the following steps will be taken to prepare for internal and external decision-making. The existing language programmes will eventually be incorporated into the new degree programme in order to appeal to a broad target group of prospective students with a single clear, new narrative about language and culture education at the UvA.

With this new approach to language and culture education, the UvA will be leading the way in the Netherlands and Europe. The UvA is investing in future-proof teaching and research for new generations of students and researchers in this domain. This will be made possible, among other ways, through the funds from the Sector Plan for Social Science and Humanities (Sectorplan Social Science en Humanities), which views connecting language and cultural expertise better with other knowledge domains and urgent social issues as one of the most important challenges.