England embraces European invasion

Universities throughout England are gearing up to take part in the European Year of Languages, launched last week at the North of England Education Conference, in Bridlington.

Some, such as the universities of Westminster and Birmingham, are running year-long programmes of events. Others are staging conferences, workshops and language courses.

Dawn Ebbrell, higher education officer at the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, said universities could make contributions in areas such as the less widely used European languages. "There is much more of a focus on these subjects in higher education," she said.