Little student interest in French or Spanish instruction, college says

Enrolment in French and Spanish language courses at Okanagan College has dropped by about half in recent years, officials say.

And shutting down the Department of Modern Languages will affect only two of the college’s hundreds of employees.

“Over the past decade, student demand for these courses has declined,” college spokesman Kevin Parnell said via email. “Annual enrolment has dropped by approximately 50 per cent in the past three years, compared to what it was a decade ago.

“While the college has made changes and explored strategies to attempt to respond to the decline, it is no longer sustainable to continue the department structure,” Parnell said.

Should the college decide in the future to reintroduce instruction in other languages, it would be done so under the department of Arts