From modest beginnings as a small English training institute in the late 50s, to its current shape as a central university, the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) has travelled a long way.
Promoted as an English teaching institute for primary and secondary school teachers in 1958, it still continues the activity through its various centres. However, EFLU is now in the process of transforming itself as a centre for inter-disciplinary studies and research in literary and cultural studies.
Having started as a central institute of English in 1958, it had widened its scope in 1972 to a foreign language teaching institute?it also changed its name to the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL). It had obtained the deemed university status in 1973 and became the 24th central university in 2007. It has two campuses at Lucknow and Shillong, with its head office at Hyderabad.
The university?s target now is to open 16 schools starting from literature to humanities and inter-culture studies. The scope and expansion proposals have already been drafted and are expected to be cleared by the academic and executive councils of the university soon. ?They will be submitted to the Union government for its approval,? said Prof Abhai Maurya, vice chancellor, EFLU. He hoped that the university may commence some of the schools and proposed courses from the next academic year.
On the funding front, the university is proposing a fund of Rs 500 crore to be funded through the central Budget, the vice-chancellor said. This apart, the EFLU is also proposing to establish five more campuses in the coming years in different parts of the country.
According to Maurya, the multi-campus concept would enable the university to reach people living outside the metropolitan cities and to help them compete in and contribute to all spheres of national activity. ?This is one of the objects of the university,? he pointed out.
The vice-chancellor said that the university has already initiated talks with Haryana and Kerala state governments for obtaining land to set up campuses. ?We are in talks with these state governments for land,? Prof Maurya said. The university is looking for about 100 acres of land in each of the state, he added.
This apart, the university is planning to establish a big campus in about 100 acres, close to Hyderabad to cater exclusively to foreign students. ?In this way, we can also earn dollars,? Maurya said. According to him, there is a huge demand for learning English from Africa, East Asia and the Gulf besides China and Japan.
The university has already approached the Andhra Pradesh government for suitable land around Hyderabad. As of now, the university is planning to build a hostel facility to accommodate about 500 foreign students in the existing Hyderabad campus. In fact, the new mandate given to the university in the Gazette notification reads: ??to train language teachers in methods and approaches appropriate to the Indian context; to provide expertise in language and teacher education to foreign professionals; to evolve indigenous ways of testing of language proficiency; to make provisions for innovative teaching-learning materials in both print and electronic media; to take appropriate measures for inter-disciplinary studies and reach in literary and cultural studies and to develop critical inter-cultural understanding of civilisations.?
On the course-content front, the university is proposing a five-year integrated post-graduate programme in English and in foreign languages, a post-graduate programme in media, journalism and communications, and a post-graduate programme in film studies. It also contemplates launching a novel e-master programme (on-line MA and M Phil) in French, German and Russian.