Titled “Transforming English Language Skills (TELS)”, it is a joint initiative of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the British Council.
TELS comprises six training modules for teachers and students in different universities, which have been developed by Open University in UK, said an official sharing the details. We decided to work on this programme following a study on the need for English language in higher education sector in Pakistan, he added. The modules will be piloted in 11 public universities and include nearly 10,000 students and 500 teachers.
The universities are: Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences; Government College University Faisalabad; Government Postgraduate College for Women Rawalpindi; International Islamic University Islamabad; Islamia University Bahawalpur; Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences; Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal; Karachi University; Malakand University and Sindh University.
Earlier in 2010, focus group discussions had revealed that the English skills required in higher education sector are different than those required at school and college level. We found out that university teachers face great difficulty in delivering lectures while students find it difficult to understand them, he said.
Following the pilot phase, the modules will be refined based on feedback from the universities. The final modules will then be rolled out across public and private universities across the country.
Addressing the participants at the ceremony, British Council’s Wider South Asia Education Director Dr Nils Tomes lauded HEC’s efforts and said the initiative will transform the use of English among teachers and students in the coming years.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2012.
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it is highly appreciated that necessity has been felt to improve the the communication skills among students at higher education level, which will enhance the learning and research capacities of the teachers.This joint venture of the HEC and the British Council needs to be extended to more universities /colleges of all the important cities of the country..Besides that there is utmost need to introduce the diphthongs and phonetics at primary level. The true and exact pronunciation is based on these two things which are not stressed generally at school.consequently we have our own dialect and accent, which becomes our routine for use in Spoken English and one can't mend and ameliorate pronunciation at later stages.