In an effort to fill the gap in employable talent pool in the corporate world, Bangalore University is taking novel steps to offer industry-specific courses. The 45-year-old university, one of the largest in Asia with 700 affiliate colleges and 3,50,000 students, is working towards setting up a full-fledged, Centre for Global Languages, offering training in about 12 foreign languages.
Speaking to FE, University vice chancellor Prof HA Ranganath said that the centre, would be set up by 2010, supported by respective foreign embassies. ?Four years ago, there were hardly 70 students for the foreign language courses offered by us. Now, there are over 300 people. We believe our initiative is rare among other universities in India. It is very contemporary,? he said.
Currently, the campus offers certificate courses in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Korean. The foreign embassies offered language teachers for the courses, while the university supplemented the faculty strength with some Indian teachers.
An international language fair, held every year involving cultural shows and presentations by departments of each language is also a big draw in the campus.
The university has earmarked Rs 60 lakh towards offering integrated courses, by combining undergraduate and postgraduate studies in a single degree. The pilot of this rare initiative, where twelfth standard pass-outs go through five-year programmes to secure a Masters? degree at the end, is already on. ?The thinking is that we should catch them young and train them well. We handpick the most meritorious, 15 students for each batch of the programme. At the end of a programme, where we integrate the finishing school concepts to impart soft skills and computer skills to the students, we produce readymade executives for the industry,? said professor and director, planning, monitoring and evaluation board, Dr K Eresi.
The integrated programme initiative also involve inter-disciplinary courses and a rare course to be offered starting June next year was a Masters? programme in earth and atmospheric sciences. ?We want to make sure that students of each programme know a variety of other sciences that may seem unrelated. For instance, a biology student will learn mathematics and physics too, unlike earlier batches. Specialisation comes later.?
There was a concerted effort in the course planning process to rekindle interest in basic sciences. Ranganath said that the various courses would be broadly based on the concept of different ?schools? for each discipline. ?We have a school of languages, of social sciences, natural sciences, and business studies,? he said.
The Bangalore University offers 52 post-graduate programmes and all of them follow a semester system. The faculty headcount in the university is 360 currently. During the past academic year, the institution hired 100 teachers. Prof Ranganath said that following the recent withdrawal of a government ban on faculty hiring; the university would continue to expand its faculty headcount.
The university currently runs six exchange programmes with foreign universities. Over 200 special lectures were held each year, Prof Ranganath said.
The university had been short-listed for the European Union?s scholarship programme Erasmus Mundus, under which students from nearly five European universities would conduct research projects in Bangalore. ?If we are finally chosen, we will be the only university in the country to sign such a memorandum of understanding,? Prof Eresi said.
A peer committee for assessment of administration and activities of the university had been set up to improve efficiency of the system. ?A committee of experts from outside the university audit the systems after observing us for six months. We also have strong feedback systems in place, involving our teachers and students,? Prof Ranganath said. Campuses for undergraduate courses are spread across the districts of Bangalore?rural and urban?Chikbellapur and Ramanagaram. Postgraduate courses are offered across three campuses, including central college and Jnana Bharathi campus in the city and another campus in Kolar near Bangalore. There is also an internal, quality assurance cell to promote novel academic activity and quality in programmes. Under the RTI Act, the varsity had made admissions transparent.