Former Quebec premier Bernard Landry has joined a campaign aimed at extending the province's language law to get more students attending junior college in French.

Landry and a coalition of hardline nationalists want to reduce the number of students who go to English post-secondary institutions.

Under Bill 101, new immigrants to Quebec are required to attend French elementary and secondary schools but are free to go to either an English or French junior college.

The coalition claims that more than 50 per cent of students whose mother tongue is neither French nor English are currently enrolled in English colleges.

Landry says he didn't make any changes when he was Parti Quebecois premier several years ago because he believed such students would continue their basic schooling in French colleges.

A public rally is also planned for this evening in Montreal to officially launch the campaign.