Beyond national languages and English: multilingual language practices in the academic workplace

Language diversity management in Higher Education (HE) has gained increasing attention worldwide, especially given ongoing internationalisation processes and the growing number of international students and staff. However, research has focused predominantly on national languages and English, paying relatively little attention to the professional use of employees’ other languages. The present study addresses this gap by examining the multilingual repertoires and work-related language practices of academic and technical/administrative staff in different faculties at an international higher education institution in Norway. Specifically, it investigates the professional use of languages beyond national languages, English, Swedish, and Danish. The study draws on survey responses from 703 employees, as well as records of research activities registered over a 20-year period in the national research database CRISTIN. The results show that both academic and technical/administrative staff make extensive professional use of their additional languages, with considerable variation across faculties. These results highlight the often overlooked role of multilingual repertoires as institutional resources that support research, teaching, administration. They also suggest the need for higher education institutions to move beyond approaches to diversity management centred on English and the national language by recognising the full range of linguistic competencies available within their workforce.