Final-year govt college engg students to be taught German, French and Japanese

The Tamil Nadu government is set to introduce foreign languages for final-year engineering students from the coming academic year with 10 State-run colleges having been identified on a pilot basis.

Though the initial plan was to impart training in five foreign languages, now, only three – German, French, and Japanese - would be taught. Russian and Mandarin are not part of the course at present.

The Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE), in association with Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC), has been entrusted to set up foreign language classes by creating the proper infrastructure in State-run colleges.

A senior DOTE official told DT Next that one college each from Coimbatore, Salem, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi, Bodinayakanoor, Dharmapuri, Bargur, Tiruchy, Sengipatti (Thanjavur), and Vellore, has been listed to establish foreign language coaching centres.

Stating that the objective to introduce foreign languages was to provide ample academic support for better employment and career opportunities, the official said Expression of Interest (EoI) from agencies for conducting classes has been sought. “Evaluation of appointing the training agency will be done by a committee consisting of Managing Director, TNSDC and officials of TNSDC and DOTE,” he added.

“Classes would be conducted for all final year engineering students through online, offline, and blended modes depending on requirement,” he said, adding that the course material would be common to all and it would be on a par with international standards.

Stating that DOTE would also create awareness among students on the importance of learning foreign languages to meet the expectations of the global market, he said, “Foreign language classes will not be a part of students’ engineering syllabus but a separate entity for interested students.”

The official also said that in the second phase, students from the rest of the government-aided engineering colleges will get training in foreign languages. “The government is also mulling introduction of Russian and Mandarin for the students. A separate EoI would be sought from agencies in this regard,” he said.