BRITISH Sign Language is to be recognised as a "foreign" language option for students by a leading university, it has been announced.
University College London (UCL) said that in future, BSL will be considered to meet the institution's modern foreign language (MFL) requirement.
The university is the only institution in Britain and Northern Ireland that requires all of its UK undergraduates to hold at least a C grade at GCSE in another language or to sign up for courses as part of their degree.
It has now announced that it will recognise sign language as part of the requirement, saying it hopes the decision will increase awareness and access to the language.
Campaigners welcomed the move, saying it was an "important step towards greater deaf awareness".
UCL said that recognition of BSL will benefit students from particular specialisms, such as doctors, speech and language therapists or teachers, who may come into contact with deaf signers in their careers.
Dr Mairead MacSweeney, Centre Director at UCL's Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, said: "Students will be able to use pre-existing sign language qualifications to meet the MFL requirement.
"In addition, a whole new cohort of students will be exposed to the BSL teaching on offer at UCL and this will bring with it greater awareness of the world-class research conducted at the UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language research centre."
Susan Daniels, chief executive of the National Deaf Children's Society said: "UCL recognising BSL as one of its modern foreign language options is an important step towards greater deaf awareness; just as foreign language skills are vital for international cultural relations, communicating with our local community should be equally important.
"Everyone in the UK, deaf or hearing, should have the chance to learn BSL - but sadly, most people miss out because it's rarely taught in schools, there is no option to study it at GCSE and private lessons are expensive."
