New World Order
Middlebury, Vermont is a beautiful town of under 10,000 folks, set between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains in the Champlain Valley. Average summer temperature is 68° but the same in winter is 24°. Middlebury Falls is on Otter Creek, which runs right through the middle of town, passing a wide variety of restaurants, a farmers’ market, and a number of local breweries, wineries, and cideries. It has been the home for Middlebury College (University) since 1800, known as one of the country’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges, famous for its language programs. The school runs about $94,000 per academic year, with tuition ~$70,00 and housing/meals the remainder.
In 2005 Middlebury signed an agreement with the Monterey Institute and in 2010 acquired the entire facility which became the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The Institute focused on graduate language studies and language teaching and was recognized for its degrees in conference interpretation and International Policy & Management. The Institute is situated in downtown Monterey, a town of 30,200, within walking distance of Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row. Monterey’s average temperature in summer is 60° and in winter 52, and the tuition at the Institute is ~$74,500 for the year.
So, after 4 years of college in rural Vermont and some chilly winters, what could be better than two years in Monterey to garner a Master’s in Language Studies, particularly conference interpretation? Unfortunately there is no longer an answer to that question as Middlebury recently announced the closing of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, with the graduating class of 2027. Considering that the Institute was considered one of the three major translation schools in the world, one would wonder why such a prestigious institution would disappear, but the answer is simple, AI.
Finances were an issue, with a deficit of ~$14m this year and a turnaround plan that failed to meet milestones, leaving the only alternative, the closure of the Institute. The financial issues, other than the high cost of operating in Monterey, were the result of insufficient enrollment, which had been declining over the last few years as students who previously were looking to enter the high-paying simultaneous interpreting or translation service industry found that the return on years of study was quickly decreasing as AI put pressure on manual translation.
Those in the language business are quick to say that language remains the cornerstone of cross-cultural communications knowledge acquisition and that the logic of learning English has not changed. However the value of the ‘old’ model has changed, leading to a new model that is said to combine language skills with data, tools, and processes, however that model has yet to be discerned, while the old model seems to be heading out with the tide. Middlebury is the first to go, but we expect similar programs and institutions to fade away as their potential students find less opportunity in this new language world order. Perhaps a new position such as Associate Professor of AI Language Studies might soothe some potential language majors, but more likely that role will be named AI Language Program Manager, at a lower salary, and no tenure after 6 or 7 years.
In 2005 Middlebury signed an agreement with the Monterey Institute and in 2010 acquired the entire facility which became the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The Institute focused on graduate language studies and language teaching and was recognized for its degrees in conference interpretation and International Policy & Management. The Institute is situated in downtown Monterey, a town of 30,200, within walking distance of Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row. Monterey’s average temperature in summer is 60° and in winter 52, and the tuition at the Institute is ~$74,500 for the year.
So, after 4 years of college in rural Vermont and some chilly winters, what could be better than two years in Monterey to garner a Master’s in Language Studies, particularly conference interpretation? Unfortunately there is no longer an answer to that question as Middlebury recently announced the closing of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, with the graduating class of 2027. Considering that the Institute was considered one of the three major translation schools in the world, one would wonder why such a prestigious institution would disappear, but the answer is simple, AI.
Finances were an issue, with a deficit of ~$14m this year and a turnaround plan that failed to meet milestones, leaving the only alternative, the closure of the Institute. The financial issues, other than the high cost of operating in Monterey, were the result of insufficient enrollment, which had been declining over the last few years as students who previously were looking to enter the high-paying simultaneous interpreting or translation service industry found that the return on years of study was quickly decreasing as AI put pressure on manual translation.
Those in the language business are quick to say that language remains the cornerstone of cross-cultural communications knowledge acquisition and that the logic of learning English has not changed. However the value of the ‘old’ model has changed, leading to a new model that is said to combine language skills with data, tools, and processes, however that model has yet to be discerned, while the old model seems to be heading out with the tide. Middlebury is the first to go, but we expect similar programs and institutions to fade away as their potential students find less opportunity in this new language world order. Perhaps a new position such as Associate Professor of AI Language Studies might soothe some potential language majors, but more likely that role will be named AI Language Program Manager, at a lower salary, and no tenure after 6 or 7 years.
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