Cambridge University has dropped its long standing requirement that all entrants should possess a Grade A* to C in at least one foreign language at GCSE.   Cambridge is the last university in England and Wales to abandon this tradition.

From next September each teaching department will be able to decide on all its own minimal criteria.

The change is in recognition of the fact that at the turn of the century around 80% of all school students took at least one modern foreign language at GCSE whereas that is now 50%.  However the percentage taking the foreign language in private schools has remained at around the 80%, meaning that the regulation mediates against students from local authority schools and academies.

The change comes soon after Cambridge announced that is was having difficulty filling the places in its computer studies department and was actively seeking students who might apply for its undergraduate courses in computing.