For almost six decades, international students have come to a University of Pittsburgh institute to improve their English and, in many cases, they would eventually teach the language to others.

Most who have enrolled in the university’s English Language Institute are in Pittsburgh to immerse themselves in intensive, noncredit training delivered in an American setting.

Others are in degree programs at Pitt or other institutions and will use what they learn to become teaching assistants, English as a Second Language instructors or pursue varied other career and personal endeavors.

But this semester could be the last for the institute, which has enrolled 14,000 students from more than 130 countries since 1964.

Citing enrollment losses and financial pressures exacerbated by the pandemic, Arts and Sciences Dean Kathleen Blee has informed the institute and the linguistics department to which it belongs that the unit will cease operations as of June 30.

The institute is one of the nation’s oldest intensive English programs, officials said. Efforts are underway to try to prevent its closure and the resulting loss of eight faculty positions.

“As you likely know, enrollments in English Language Institute programs have declined over the last several years as part of a larger trend of declining enrollments in intensive English programs nationally,” Blee wrote. “This decreasing demand has impacted the ELI’s ability to sustain itself financially.”

Blee, who was not available for further comment, did not specify in her letter the scope of the financial problems.

The institute’s advocates contend that closing it runs counter to Pitt’s evolution in recent decades into a nationally and internationally known institution.

“In the larger picture, Pitt wants to be diverse. It wants to reach out to the world. We want to be inclusive. All of those things,” said Scott Kiesling, chair of Pitt’s linguistics department. “This is going in the opposite direction, making it harder for students to come from overseas and learn language.”

“I’m just kind of mystified. I didn’t think this was the direction it was going in,” he said. “It’s a big blow.”

Since ELI will remain open through the upcoming spring term, Blee said in her letter that “none of our current students will be displaced.”

She added that after the institute closes, the linguistics department “will continue to teach English as a Second Language courses as part of their regular offerings.”

The institute’s enrollment has long been subject to world events such as economic and political upheaval that impact overseas travel, and numbers took a precipitous drop during the pandemic, as they did at other programs across the nation, according to an Institute of International Education survey in 2020. Numbers that dropped by nearly half then have rebounded, but so far only in part.

Still, the decision to close rather than give more time to see whether enrollment would continue to rebound appeared to catch some by surprise. Kiesling said the institute supports a wide swath of university endeavors in schools across the university, from English as a Second Language instruction and English language testing to accumulating knowledge that is used to better understand how individuals acquire language.

He said those seeking an alternative to closing the institute hope to have further talks with the dean this week and with Provost Ann Cudd this month.

Typically, the institute enrolls students for a year, a semester or as little as five weeks. officials said. Its development over the years has coincided with a sustained push by Pitt, once a largely regional institution, to raise its profile nationally and internationally.

The institute’s enrollment has risen and fallen with world events, with declines after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the SARS outbreak the following year and with the 2008 Great Recession.

In 2016, there were 150 students but that dropped to 120 three years later, Kiesling said. During the covid-19 pandemic, student numbers fell even further to between 30 and 40, before rebounding to 85 by fall 2022.

In words and pictures, the institute’s Instagram account is a colorful scrapbook of milestones and moments. In one, there are students who have used their English skills in area schools to teach children about Japanese culture as volunteers with the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania. Another snapshot shows a returning graduate now teaching at a university in Saudi Arabia.

“Not only did the ELI classes make me very confident in English, but they also helped me enhance my English ability,” a woman from Korea said in a recent speech captured on video. “Otherwise, I couldn’t have gotten a sufficient Duolingo score, and I couldn’t have been admitted to the digital media certificate program at the University of Pittsburgh.”

In her letter, Blee said the eight faculty positions are represented by the United Steelworkers, which currently is negotiating its first labor contract with Pitt. One staff member also will be impacted by the closure.

The institute was once housed in the Cathedral of Learning but now is in the Parkvale Building on Forbes Avenue.

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