diff --git a/admin/environment.xml b/admin/environment.xml
index 4d07c5c4fc3..93379ad1fbc 100644
--- a/admin/environment.xml
+++ b/admin/environment.xml
@@ -122,6 +122,11 @@
           <ON_CHECK message="xmlrpcrecommended" />
         </FEEDBACK>
       </PHP_EXTENSION>
+      <PHP_EXTENSION name="ctype" level="optional">
+        <FEEDBACK>
+          <ON_CHECK message="ctyperecommended" />
+        </FEEDBACK>
+      </PHP_EXTENSION>
     </PHP_EXTENSIONS>
   </MOODLE>
   <MOODLE version="1.9">
@@ -177,6 +182,11 @@
           <ON_CHECK message="xmlrpcrecommended" />
         </FEEDBACK>
       </PHP_EXTENSION>
+      <PHP_EXTENSION name="ctype" level="optional">
+        <FEEDBACK>
+          <ON_CHECK message="ctyperecommended" />
+        </FEEDBACK>
+      </PHP_EXTENSION>
     </PHP_EXTENSIONS>
     <CUSTOM_CHECKS>
       <CUSTOM_CHECK file="question/upgrade.php" function="question_check_no_rqp_questions" level="optional">
@@ -244,6 +254,11 @@
           <ON_CHECK message="xmlrpcrecommended" />
         </FEEDBACK>
       </PHP_EXTENSION>
+      <PHP_EXTENSION name="ctype" level="required">
+        <FEEDBACK>
+          <ON_ERROR message="ctyperequired" />
+        </FEEDBACK>
+      </PHP_EXTENSION>
     </PHP_EXTENSIONS>
     <CUSTOM_CHECKS>
       <CUSTOM_CHECK file="question/upgrade.php" function="question_check_no_rqp_questions" level="optional">
diff --git a/course/lib.php b/course/lib.php
index ad6ceb9e2ca..70d2d3edd4c 100644
--- a/course/lib.php
+++ b/course/lib.php
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ function build_mnet_logs_array($hostid, $course, $user=0, $date=0, $order="l.tim
 
     if ($modaction) {
         $firstletter = substr($modaction, 0, 1);
-        if (ctype_alpha($firstletter)) {
+        if (preg_match('/[[:alpha:]]/', $firstletter)) {
             $where .= " AND\n                lower(l.action) LIKE '%" . strtolower($modaction) . "%'";
         } else if ($firstletter == '-') {
             $where .= " AND\n                lower(l.action) NOT LIKE '%" . strtolower(substr($modaction, 1)) . "%'";
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ function build_logs_array($course, $user=0, $date=0, $order="l.time ASC", $limit
 
     if ($modaction) {
         $firstletter = substr($modaction, 0, 1);
-        if (ctype_alpha($firstletter)) {
+        if (preg_match('/[[:alpha:]]/', $firstletter)) {
             $joins[] = "lower(l.action) LIKE '%" . strtolower($modaction) . "%'";
         } else if ($firstletter == '-') {
             $joins[] = "lower(l.action) NOT LIKE '%" . strtolower(substr($modaction, 1)) . "%'";
diff --git a/install/lang/en_utf8/installer.php b/install/lang/en_utf8/installer.php
index 38d768a516b..fe03c3876b4 100644
--- a/install/lang/en_utf8/installer.php
+++ b/install/lang/en_utf8/installer.php
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ $string['configurationcompletehead'] = 'Configuration completed';
 $string['configurationcompletesub'] = 'Moodle made an attempt to save your configuration in a file in the root of your Moodle installation.';
 $string['continue'] = 'Continue';
 $string['curlrecommended'] = 'Installing the optional Curl library is highly recommended in order to enable Moodle Networking functionality.';
+$string['ctyperecommended'] = 'Installing the optional CTYPE library is highly recommended in order to improve site performance, particularly if your site is supporting non-latin languages.';
+$string['ctyperequired'] = 'The ctype PHP extension is now required by Moodle, in order to improve site performance and to offer multilingual compatibility.';
 $string['customcheck'] = 'Other Checks';
 $string['database'] = 'Database';
 $string['databasecreationsettings'] = 'Now you need to configure the database settings where most Moodle data
diff --git a/lang/en_utf8/admin.php b/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
index d27726dd768..e8168eeeeb7 100644
--- a/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
@@ -214,6 +214,8 @@ $string['cronerrorpassword'] = 'Sorry, you have not provided a valid password to
 $string['cronremotepassword'] = 'Cron password for remote access';
 $string['cronwarning'] = 'The <a href=\"cron.php\">cron.php maintenance script</a> has not been run for at least 24 hours.';
 $string['curlrecommended'] = 'Installing the optional Curl library is highly recommended in order to enable Moodle Networking functionality.';
+$string['ctyperecommended'] = 'Installing the optional ctype PHP extension is highly recommended in order to improve site performance, particularly if your site is supporting non-latin languages.';
+$string['ctyperequired'] = 'The ctype PHP extension is now required by Moodle, in order to improve site performance and to offer multilingual compatibility.';
 $string['customcheck'] = 'Other Checks';
 $string['datarootsecuritywarning'] = 'Your site configuration might not be secure. Please make sure that your dataroot directory ($a) is not directly accessible via web.';
 $string['dbmigrate'] = 'Moodle Database Migration';