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No entry to university without a foreign language
Last updated at 10:22am on 14.12.06A leading university has announced that it will refuse to admit students who have not studied a foreign language at school in an attempt to stop teenagers dropping French and German.
University College London has agreed plans to make a GCSE in a modern foreign language a compulsory entry requirement for all students starting courses from 2012.
The announcement came as the Government prepared to publish findings from Lord Dearing's investigation into language teaching in schools.
Figures in August showed a sharp drop in the number of exam entries for French and German as a result of the Government's decision to make languages optional at GCSE.
UCL vice-provost Professor Michael Worton said the university wanted its students to have "a basic linguistic capability".
He told the BBC News website: "We actually feel it's essential that students have an understanding of how another language operates and, crucially, knowledge of another culture."
The decision to make GCSE languages a compulsory requirement for prospective students should encourage schools to keep teaching languages, he said.
Universities have urged ministers to reverse their decision to give teenagers the option to drop languages after the age of 14.
GCSE entries in German were down by 14.2 per cent this summer, and fell below 100,000 for the first time, while entries in French fell 13.2 per cent.
Education Secretary Alan Johnson appointed Lord Dearing to conduct a review of the Government's languages strategy.
Lord Dearing's interim findings will be published tomorrow but he is not expected to call for a return to compulsory languages at GCSE level.
Instead, his focus is thought likely to be on compulsory languages for primary school children and more appealing leons at secondary level.
Reader views (3)
As an Australian and fluent French speaker I was treated as if I had the plague once my collegues in London heard that I could and did speak French. I found the Brits extremely ignorant about foreign cultures and languages. To know a man is to know his language and after hearing the Brits speak I now know them and find them vulgar in every way.
- Johanna Richmond, Dubai
Well done, University College. Shame on the government and on Lord Dearing for colluding with the government in abolishing the compulsion to study foreign languages in schools. They say pupils should not be forced to study languages if they find them hard and boring. You don't hear them saying this about English and Maths.
- Rodney Livingstone, Southampton, UK
I speak five languages and the only work I could get using my languages when I graduated was in telesales, so I ended up not using them. I was even asked in some interviews why I had chosen to study languages, as though it were some kind of hobby for eccentrics. I also worked for one international media giant in London where they were actually hostile to my desire to use my languages.
As a linguist, and speaking from experience, I would say that unless your intention is to work abroad, your time would be better spent honing your IT skills.
- Richard, Madrid, Spain
