Welcome from the Head of School - In Focus Oct '16

I recently attended the National Heads of Languages meeting held at ANU in Canberra, an opportunity to share both successes and challenges in the teaching of languages in Australian universities. There is certainly much to celebrate, as across the sector there are a wide range of languages being taught, including Australian indigenous languages. The University Languages Portal Australia (http://ulpa.edu.au/) offers a very useful introduction to all these languages, including which languages are being taught and where. We also heard about an exciting new project on “Flourishing in a Second Language” (http://www.l2flourish.org/. Given both these initiatives were funded by the soon to be disbanded Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT), there was some concern expressed about how Australia will maintain its leading role in language teaching research and innovation in the years to come. Yet as we can see from news in this issue of “In Focus”, there is nevertheless a real spirit of creativity and innovation amongst members of our School. This all the more heartening to see as we continue to witness ongoing struggles about what it means to be a global citizen in increasingly diverse societies around the world.

Professor Michael Haugh

Head of School