§ 23. Mr. Tilneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what encouragement he gives to the study in higher education of modern Chinese.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsFollowing the report of the Hayter Committee on 792 Oriental, African, Slavonic and East European Studies, the University Grants Committee has in the last five years allocated over £1 million for the expansion of university studies in these fields, including Chinese. A Committee on Research and Development in Modern Languages has proposed the establishment of an Inter-Universities Chinese Language School, which undergraduates would attend for the first year of a four-year university course; this is now being discussed with the universities concerned.
§ Mr. TilneyIs the hon. Gentleman aware that one of the senior universities has only just started to teach modern Chinese? Would he bring to the attention of the universities the importance of teaching modern Mandarin in this shrunken world?
§ Mr. RobertsI think that very encouraging progress has been made since the Hayter Committee reported and the University Grants Committee took action. Six universities have courses in Chinese, although I could not say whether they include Mandarin, Cantonese or national Chinese. Fourteen institutes of further education have courses in the language.