No entry to university without a foreign language

A 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.