The Economist, an English journal, has a post about how English is fast becoming the language of higher education around the world. The reason for this is leading subjects like science and business are universal in their content and so suited for (or gravitate to) a common language, a common conduction. That language happens to be the mix of German and French called English. There is nothing about this language that is special, that makes it better than others for examining DNA of flies or forming a contract. As the post points out, the appearance of English as the global language of the elite and educated is nothing but an accident....

Geoff Pullum, writing at Lingua Franca, is right to say that this is all very lucky for English, which just happened to be on top of the global pile of languages when mass communications technology (and then cheap travel, mass tourism and the internet) came on the scene. Had all of this happened two hundred years ago, universities the world over would be rushing to offer master’s programmes in French. The success of English has nothing to do with it being particularly flexible, practical, easy, logical, or any of the other old stereotypical characteristics ascribed to it. English was just in the right place at the right time.