Although many colleges and sixth forms across the UK have discussed the possibility of dropping foreign languages, including French, German and Spanish, this has now been overturned.
University College London, also known as UCL, which is one of the UK's top universities is making a language qualification an essential requirement for entry into any degree offered by UCL to prevent sixth forms, colleges and schools abandoning languages.
Located in the heart of London, UCL has agreed that a language GCSE is a requirement for admission into the university from 2012.
This move has come at a time where the House of Lords is to review a government strategy to make foreign languages optional.
Many universities across the globe, including Imperial, Oxford and Harvard have stated their concern that many colleges and sixth forms are abandoning their language departments as they are not cost-effective.
The latest batch of GCSE results have showed a severe decrease in modern languages applicants. It has been two years since they became optional, and this has evidently effected figures.
Entries in German decreased by just over 14%, with French down by 13%.
Many students blame the spiralling student debt in one way or another. One student stated that jobs in languages are becoming scarce compared to the wages received in Medicine, Computing or other skilled jobs.
Colleges and sixth forms must offer languages
Wed, 13 Dec 2006
