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Budget 1999-2000
FACT SHEET
$90 MILLION FOR THE STUDY OF ASIAN LANGUAGES
The Commonwealth has allocated $90m in the 1999-2000 Budget to extend funding for the
National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) Strategy over the next
three years to 2002.
- The NALSAS Strategy is a cooperative initiative between Commonwealth, State and
Territory governments. It supports enhanced and expanded study of Asian languages and
Asian studies provision through all school systems in order to improve Australia’s
capacity and preparedness to interact internationally, in particular with key Asian
economies
- The languages targeted are Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Indonesian and Korean. The
objective of the Strategy is to ensure that 60 per cent of year 10 students and 15 per
cent of Year 12 students are studying an identified Asian language by 2006.
- The Commonwealth, States and Territories have worked collaboratively through a Taskforce
established by Ministers to develop and implement the Strategy. Since NALSAS was
introduced in 1994 the number of students studying Japanese increased by over 50,000, the
number studying Chinese by some 20,000 and the number studying Indonesian by over 100,000.
Japanese is the language most widely studied by school students presenting for Year 12
assessment.
- The Commonwealth has provided over $117 million to support the study of Asian languages
and studies of Asia since the commencement of NALSAS in 1994-95.
Media Release
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