BU to teach Chinese students English
For the first time in Tamil Nadu, a university will start teaching English to a number of Chinese students.Students from a Chinese university will pursue a degree in English in Bharathiar University, Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam told a press conference here on Wednesday.The first batch of 100 students would undergo the undergraduate course in English Literature in the department of English, which was started only this year. “To finalise the details, a five-member team will come to Coimbatore.The team will be headed by Xialifa, Chancellor, University of Huaihua, China, and will be here in August,” said the Vice-Chancellor .He later told The Hindu that this was mooted after coming to know that Chinese students were studying in some of the universities in North India. “This is the first attempt by a university in Tamil Nadu,” he said.“Information Technology is coming up in a big way in China. Everyone wants to learn English. There are not many there to teach.They welcome such invitations to study in universities located outside their country.
They have acceded to my invitation to study in our university. They are impressed with the university as well as the place,” said Dr. Thiruvasagam.The first batch of the Chinese students would arrive some time after August and classes would begin immediately afterwards.They would join other students in the first year. To make up for the delay, the course would be converted into a non-semester pattern. The curriculum would be updated and made more useful to include communication skills and functional English. A separate hostel would be made ready to house the students.The Vice-Chancellor believed that the mingling of students would encourage cross-cultural ties. The programme would also fetch good resources to the university, he said.
