Elspeth Broady
Head of School of Languages
faculty of education and sport
Brighton University
Job advertised in The Times Higher , May 30, 2003
A-level students are turning away from modern languages in droves, with heavy repercussions on university language departments.
But Brighton University's School of Languages is faring better than most under Elspeth Broady.
She was appointed acting head of school in September 2003 after the university advertised the post but failed to find the right candidate. She spent the next year jumping through internal recruitment hoops to take on the role proper in June.
Brighton's strategy has been to combine courses with languages, such as media studies with French and German. An English-language studies strand allows students to analyse their own language, and students across the university can take a language option as part of their course or in addition to it.
Ms Broady joined Brighton in 1989. She ran the postgraduate Language Teacher Education Programme from 1992 until 2003.