BENGALURU: Students looking to pursue management courses under Bangalore University will have to study a foreign language compulsorily from the coming academic year. Considering the numerous job opportunities for the ones knowing at least one foreign language, the Board of Studies (BOS) for management courses has decided to introduce one foreign language at the postgraduate level.
According to senior professors, there are plenty of job opportunities in countries like Germany, Japan and France for management graduates. “The only reason our students are getting rejected from international companies, is their lack of communication skills in the official language of that particular country,” said Prof K Janardhanam, head of Canara Bank School of Management.
As per the decision, students will be provided with options to choose anyone in three foreign languages. “It has been decided to introduce German, Japanese and French. Of the three, students must choose one,” said Janardhanam. Even now, the university offers foreign languages, but it is optional. Whereas, from next academic year, students will have to choose a language for 1st and 3rd semesters. However, this will not carry any credit.
“Several students had got rejected in their final level during campus placements. Majority of the companies that take part in our placement process are based in Germany, France and Japan. These companies expect students to have basic communication skills in the language of their country,” he said. According to authorities, the foreign language will be part of their compulsory paper on “Employability skills and Language Learning”, which is going to be introduced for 1st and 3rd semester from 2019-20 academic year.
Meanwhile, the university is planning to approach authorities to recruit teachers. “We are thinking of approaching Alliance Francaise and other management institutes to hire foreign language faculties. The university also has a foreign languages department and we will approach them as well,” he added.