HC Deb 06 May 2003 vol 404 c641W
Mr. Gibb

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what efforts his Department is making, through reform of the 14–19 curriculum, to increase the number of entrants aged under 21 years to modern languages courses at higher education institutions in the UK. [110874]

Mr. Miliband

We are committed through our National Languages Strategy to increasing the number of higher education students taking modern foreign languages as all or part of their degree, by increasing the opportunities available to them to do so. Students who continue to study languages post 14 are more motivated and more likely to continue studying a modern foreign language into higher education. So we are requiring all [maintained] secondary schools to ensure that modern foreign languages remain available to any 14–16 year old pupil who wishes to study them. Our goal is to move to a position where young people are motivated to study modern foreign languages, rather than being forced to do so.