MPs vote in favour of university lectures in English

France's lower house last Thursday approved a plan to allow more courses to be taught in English at French universities, despite concerns that such a move might undermine efforts to promote the French language, reports RFI.

The full bill is expected to be approved in the Assembly and the upper house Senate, where the ruling Socialists and their allies have majorities. The vote followed two hours of heated debate, with lawmakers from the main right-wing opposition UMP saying the measure threatens France's identity.

However Socialist MP Thierry Mandon called the controversy "a storm in a teacup". The aim of the measure is to improve the employability of French young people but also to increase the number of foreign students at France's universities from 12% of the total to 15% by 2020.
Full report on the RFI site