The Hindu : National : Goethe-Institut for more cooperation with India

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Thursday, Nov 30, 2006
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Goethe-Institut for more cooperation with India

T. Ramakrishnan

Future project is to bring planners, artists and intellectuals to focus on questions which concern development of cities

Hans-Georg Knopp

CHENNAI: Goethe-Institut, Germany's cultural institution having operations worldwide, has proposed greater collaborative efforts with India on areas of common interest.

Citing development of cities as one of the focal areas, Hans-Georg Knopp, Secretary General of the Institut, told The Hindu on Wednesday that ``our future project is to bring city planners, artists and intellectuals together in an inter-disciplinary way to focus on questions, which concern development of cities, especially in connection with people living in the cities.''

Dr. Knopp, who is part of a cultural delegation touring India, said the project would address the issue of how people could identify themselves with their cities. In his country ``cities are shrinking'' because the population was declining whereas in India ``you have the problem of expanding cities and your population is growing.''

Pointing out that the demand for German language learning was ``tremendous'' now in India, the senior official attributed it to the economic boom. Recalling his tenure in the Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai, during 1975-81, he said the situation was completely different then. ``We could not imagine how this would develop.''

The demand for German language courses in cities such as Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram was growing. The Institut was contemplating measures to fulfil the demand.

On the Institut's idea of developing a network of franchisees, Dr. Knopp said that because of the paucity of funds, working of cultural organisations such as Goethe-Institut were being restructured. ``We join [hands with] with universities, public libraries and other public institutions of learning. We provide services and expertise. We have the competence in German language teaching."

Asked whether the idea of franchisees was being tried in India, he referred to the help being extended by his organisation to the Indo-German Society in Hyderabad that was now taking care of the needs of students. The Institut was considering methods to help the Society in expanding activities. Asked whether the Max Mueller Bhavan would be revived in Hyderabad, Dr. Knopp said this was under consideration, given the fact that the city was a hub of higher education.

On new initiatives in German language learning, he said the concept of ``blended learning'' had just been launched in India. Under this concept, students could learn the language through the Internet and the classroom approach.

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