Students make a beeline for English literature
R. KRISHNAMOORTHY
|
With increasing emphasis on communication skills required for a demanding job market, courses in the English language have many takers in Tiruchi colleges.
|
Photo: R. Ashok
For better communication: At the language laboratory, Holy Cross College, Tiruchi.
Arts and Science colleges in and around Tiruchi are pleasantly surprised over the unprecedented demand for B.A. English Literature programme this academic year.
The boom in the Business Process Outsourcing sector and call centres has contributed in immense measure to this trend, say college principals.
Also, the sustained emphasis by academics at various forums on communication skills as key to the job market has had its impact.
Interestingly, hundreds of applicants had to be turned away or advised to pursue some other programme instead in these colleges. Among them were several students who had taken science group at the Plus-Two.
In some of the colleges, there were unfilled seats in core science programmes; but they could fill up the seats in B.A. English Literature programmes within a few days of the start of admission process.
Students have opted for this programme in large numbers with the hope of developing the soft skills compatible to job market, observes the principal of Bishop Heber College, Marcus Diepen Boominathan.
At St. Joseph’s College, there were over 300 applicants for the programme. To meet the demand for this programme, the college has started an additional section to accommodate 60 more students this year.
Course contents for the programme have been tweaked to make it relevant to the job market. Additional components in functional areas of English have been incorporated, and substantial time would be devoted for exposing students to practical situations of group discussion and interviews, said the Head of the Department of English, G. Ravindran, adding that there was also a huge demand for English teachers from Matriculation schools.
The demand situation was similar at Jamal Mohamed College, though the institution did not exercise the option of starting an additional section.
The demand for English Literature was next only to the Computer Science / IT-related, and Management-oriented programmes, said principal Sheik Mohamed.
Applicants for this programme in this college included many who had completed their teacher-training course after their Plus-Two.
No different was the situation in several other colleges.
Indira Gandhi College for Women, a self-financing institution, has plans to introduce B.A. English Literature from the next academic year, principal K. Meena said.
Urumu Dhanalakshmi College at Kattur on the city outskirts has also set its eye on starting the programme from next year onwards. The demand was unexpected, said Principal K. Sekar.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
Karnataka
Chennai
Hyderabad
