• Language is the most important vehicle of culture. Knowledge of a second language gives direct access to a different cultural and communicative system and enables students to engage directly with knowledge and belief systems different from their own. The study of a foreign language fosters openness to other ways of thinking and viewing the world. It is an invaluable tool for improving one's understanding and use of English.

   

• An intermediate level of proficiency is a reasonable degree of bilingualism that will allow Rice students to function in a foreign setting.

   

• Our peer institutions (Yale, Stanford, Duke, Penn, Cornell, etc.) have either implemented a language requirement or are in the process of implementing one. The proposed Rice language competency requirement offers far greater flexibility than those of other schools.

   

• Providing flexible opportunities for Rice students to obtain minimal functional competence in a second language is part of an institutional effort to internationalize education at Rice:

   

  • pedagogy in the language classrooms stresses communicative and cross-cultural competence

     

  • pilot program in German and Engineering that includes summer internships with global companies in the US and in Germany

     

  • expansion of the International Internship Program through Career Services

     

  • the Rice-Bremen initiative

     

  • development of study trips abroad

     

  • development of content-based language courses in conjunction with internships (e.g., "The Language and Culture of Medicine and Health Care," "Legal and Commercial Spanish")

     

  • the establishment of Rice as a test site for internationally accredited language exams (e.g., Examination on Commercial Spanish/Cervantes Institute, Examination on German for the Professions/Goethe Institute)

   

   

• Alumni surveys (COFHE and CSL) demonstrate very strong support of more intensive language learning and basic language proficiency based on professional experience and demands of the workplace.

97% of the alumni (Classes of 1988 and 1992) answered "yes" in response to both: Would you recommend the study of foreign language to incoming Rice students? Would you recommend study or work abroad to incoming Rice students?

71% of the alumni consider proficiency in a foreign language an asset in their own profession.