New study abroad programme makes languages an EU priority

-> New study abroad programme makes languages an EU priority Anna Codrea-Rado theguardian.com, Monday 21 October 2013 14.56 BST
A €15b initiative from the European Union to encourage study and training abroad will address unemployment and social mobility, says EU commissioner.
Language learning is an EU priority, Androulla Vassiliou, EU commissioner for education, culture and multilingualism, has said. Launching the revamped Erasmus+ programme, Vassiliou said languages are essential for addressing unemployment and social mobility within the European Union.
"Languages are one of our six priority topics under Erasmus+," Vassiliou said. "Whether it is for mobility for language learning, partnerships between institutions for language teaching, or policy support, it is one of our priorities."

"People in the UK think that as far as they are concerned, they can travel anywhere and can communicate with anybody in English so why should they learn another language?" Vassiliou said. "But this is not the case."
Vassiliou said this thinking is having a knock-on effect in the business sector, where a lack of language knowledge is affecting trade. "Studies show that companies that had a language strategy were able to increase their business by 25%. And at the other end of the scale, those who didn't pay any attention to languages, lost 11% of their business."