Scholarships for Studying in Germany
Among other European nations like UK and France, Germany has emerged as a promising destination for higher education. The German expertise in engineering and automobiles is well known and what can be better than picking up the skills from Deutschland itself? More and more students are heading to Germany every year for engineering, management, law, science and education courses. To make matters easy for Indian students, The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers a variety of scholarships for students who want to pursue various graduate or research programmes in Germany.
If you are planning on going to Germany, it might be a good idea to learn German so that it’s easier for you to find your way around. There are plenty of English speakers though, and some courses are also offered in English. Universities are also known to conduct crash courses in German for students coming from foreign shores. The advantage of knowing German is that it will be easier for you to get part-time jobs there and fund your study.
For information on study and courses in Germany, visit this link. For the DAAD scholarships, check this out.
Learning English=Winning
The urban/rural divide when it comes to education is nothing new to us. Urban students, with better facilities and exposure for learning English, have an edge over their rural counterparts when it comes to soft skills. Developing communication and soft skills is vital when it comes to bagging lucrative opportunities. Though rural students can compete with the city kids when it comes to domain knowledge, the lack of English knowledge often plays spoilsport in interviews. Just came across yet another article in The Hindu today which talks about the problems faced by rural students in various engineering colleges across the state.
Students have to realise that getting into a good college does not guarantee a good job these days. In addition to the curriculum, students need to keep themselves updated on current industry practices and trends. If they find there is something lacking in them (especially something as vital as English), immediate steps must be taken to improve and become an effective communicator. All the domain knowledge won’t be able to help a student out if he/she fails to express it and convince interviewers.
The article provides some other examples as well. Check it out here.
Training Blues
While everyone agrees upon the advantages of students equipping themselves with good communication skills, what is neglected is the prospect of professionals who can train the students. I am talking about the teachers in various Engineering colleges here. It goes without saying that to be successful as a teacher in this field, one needs to have a clear understanding of the needs of the industry and the kind of communication skills desired. By and large, the industry requires its workforce to be aware of domain-specific scientific and technical vocabulary, ability to speak politely and positively, reporting, clear and precise writing and making presentations. Now the question is how many teachers teaching English courses in our Engineering colleges possess these skills?
Many of the teachers recruited by engineering colleges are graduates or post-graduates in English where the emphasis is on English literature. As a result, they are largely unaware of the demands of the industry and most of the English course outline handed out is lost on them. They struggle to make sense of the technical vocabulary and other Industry-specific nuances. Upon asking, I was told by people in the Industry that during their college days, their English teachers often found themselves as baffled by the syllabus as them. Nowadays some reputed institutions like EFLU are offering courses on TEFL/TESL which are attempting to address such demands but good courses of this kind remain few and far between. With the growing demand for professionals with good communication skills, opportunities galore for teachers/trainers who can impart these skills as well. The sooner we realize this, the better.