A review of Government support of foreign language and area studies programs in institutions of higher education investigated funding, administration, and need. Since 1968, overall enrollments in the study of modern foreign languages have fallen, but enrollments in the "needed" languages, those supported by Title VI of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, have increased. During the last several years, the Congress has provided a stable level of Federal funding with slightly increasing levels to offset inflation. Federal managers have succeeded in making important improvements in the programs during the past several years, but additional administrative improvements are needed. General Accounting Office (GAO) recommends that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare require the Office of Education to: (1) visit at least once every 2 years each of the 80 centers at institutions of higher education receiving Title VI grants; (2) prepare and distribute to center officials and other appropriate parties a bi-annual report containing helpful "lessons learned" based on center reports and visits to centers; (3) provide feedback reports to the centers at least once a year on their reports to the Office of Education; and (4) develop a system to evaluate the effectiveness of the program providing starter grants to new international studies projects. It was discovered that program managers are faced with the problem of determining the national needs for the study of foreign languages and related areas. (SW)