Universities: European Languages

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Baroness has greater expertise in this area than I do, but I reassure her that the ERASMUS fee waiver programme will continue until 2014 and Ministers are considering the report by Professor Riordan on how we are going to fund after 2014. However, students will continue to enjoy the ERASMUS fee waiver for studying outside Great Britain in European countries. For study abroad in non-European countries, students get a percentage of fee waivers from their higher education institutions, and that is often up to the higher education institutions themselves. They recognise the value of it and therefore are more inclined to work with students to see what they can do to ensure that those students are able to take the benefit of that one year abroad.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that last year, of the 306 graduate entrants into European Union institutions, only seven were from the UK. Does she agree that this must be due in part to the decline in language teaching? Does she further agree that it cannot be in our national interest that there is such a decline and that the future influence of this country in European Union institutions is likely to decline as a result of this?

[Baroness Verma]

That is why the Government have prioritised language courses at university and in schools. The noble Lord will be aware that we have placed this, with HEFCE funding, under the vulnerable subjects in order that it will get the full grant. My right honourable friend Michael Gove has taken the issue very seriously. He has made sure that language teaching is part of the English baccalaureate and that young children are exposed to the joy of learning a language. As those of us with business backgrounds know, the importance of trading globally will be on the basis that we have the experience and knowledge of languages.