BCU 2nd varsity to start integrated French course

To cater to the increasing job opportunities in the IT-BT sector, hospitality and the tourism industry, the Bengaluru Central University has decided to offer an integrated French programme from the 2018-19 academic year.

This would enable teaching in the French medium and with the new course, BCU will be the second university in the country after Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, to offer such a course in a foreign language.

The three-year integrated programme will impart knowledge on French culture and history, French literary works, functional French, French linguistics and the methodology of teaching French. The course will also have other subjects like English language, environmental science and the Constitution of India.

"Students with no knowledge in French can also join. Students will be initially trained in the basics, with spoken and listening ability in the French language," explained Jyothi Venkatesh, coordinator, Centre for Global Languages, BCU.

"There is a huge demand for people who know foreign languages, especially in fields like the IT sector, hospitality and international schools. French is the second most widely spoken language in the world after English. From the day we started the centre, French was the most preferred language among the international languages. So, we have decided to start the integrated programme with French this year and add German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese in the coming years," Jyothi said.

K Eresi, former chairman and present adviser to the Centre for Global Languages said: "There is an entrance test for the integrated course of foreign language in JNU. We can imagine the demand that the foreign language has. We will limit the admission to 20 people. We already have well-trained professors and French-teaching faculties in the department. BCU will be the second university in India and the first university in South India to have an integrated programme in French."