Punjabi University to start new courses in IELTS, spoken English

Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 7

While there is concern in the state over more and more youngsters going abroad, the Punjabi University authorities say continuous immigration of youth to foreign lands has led to drop in admissions. 

The university has decided to start IELTS and English speaking and training courses at the IAS and Allied Services Training Centre. These courses are a prerequisite for youngsters planning to go abroad. Prof BS Ghuman, Vice-Chancellor (VC), Punjabi University, said, “The aim of starting the courses is to provide training in language skills.”

The university has opened a new Centre for English Language Learning (CELL) under the IAS and Allied Services Training Centre. The university authorities said, “While there are private institutes in the market, which sell frivolous dreams to unsuspecting students at a high cost, CELL at the university has decided to impart authentic and ethical English training at an affordable cost. As such, students will be enrolled after interviews.”

Earlier, the university authorities had stated they were looking at strategies to improve enrolment after drop in enrolment during the previous session. The university also extended dates for admissions till December last year to enrol more students.

In a conversation today, Prof Ghuman said, “An important reason for drop in enrolment of students is their immigration to foreign countries apart from recession in few other courses.” “Youngsters start going abroad after school. This is happening in the whole state. There is a craze among youngsters for going abroad and all are preparing for that,” he added.

When asked about the university’s decision to provide training in the same sphere the VC said, “The decision should be looked at from the perspective of providing much needed proficiency in the language. It is not based only on immigration, but has components including spoken, reading, writing and reading aspects, which help in securing jobs.”

“The university will start a course in academic writing to help students in capacity building. The course will be in both English and Punjabi as professional training in academic writing is much needed for students,” the VC added.

“The university is focusing on creating more employment by setting up a new centre to give opportunity to students to begin start-ups,” said the VC.