Guest guest Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Texas Varsity to establish Hindi-Urdu program Written by PTI Houston, Nov 27. (PTI): The University of Texas at Austin has been awarded more than $ 7,00,000 to establish Hindi and Urdu teaching programmes as part of the US Government's initiative to teach languages whose knowledge is considered critical to national security. The National Security Education Department has given the amount to UT's South Asia Institute. The goal of UT's Flagship Program is to produce university graduates with the highest levels of fluency and professional proficiency in Hindi and Urdu. Hindi and Urdu languages--amongst the most widely spoken languages in the world, are considered critical to national security and in the global market. The Hindi and Urdu Flagship Programme (HUF-Programme) will train students in advanced language proficiency and professional development across a range of disciplines, including business, communications and public policy. Students from the programme will become candidates for employment with the federal Government or hold a vital place in the worlds of business, technology or academia. Students in the four-year undergraduate HUF-Program will take language and content classes alongside coursework in their majors. In the third year, students will study abroad at one of India's prestigious universities. The university's Center for Global Education Opportunities will collaborate with the institute in developing the study abroad programme. "With our internationally renowned faculty, innovative educational technology and multidisciplinary curriculum, we are poised to house the strongest advanced Hindi-Urdu language programme in the country," said Judith Langlois, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Professor of Hindi Herman Van Olphen will be the director of the HUF-Program with Asian Studies faculty Rupert Snell (Hindi) and Akbar Hyder (Urdu) as associate directors. Orlando Kelm, associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese, will join the program to assist with the development of the Hindi and Urdu Cyber Project, a set of computer-assisted, audio-visual materials that draw on the latest instructional technologies. The HUF-Program will enroll about 10 students in fall 2007, with the program expanding to 20 students the following year. The recruitment of academically excellent high school students with some knowledge of Hindi or Urdu will begin immediately for the 2007-08 academic year. NSEP was established by Congress in 1991 to address the rising need for Americans to communicate and compete globally through knowledge of the languages and cultures of other countries. NSEPF's National Flagship Language initiative seeks, in particular, to produce a new kind of instructional program focused on the attainment of high-level competency in the target language and grounded in its professional use across a range of disciplines. It has previously launched comprehensive programmes of instruction in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian and Russian. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200611270310.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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