In an effort to improve the communication skills and personality development of students, the University of Madras opened a language laboratory at its Guindy campus on Wednesday.
University Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam said the Chepauk campus already had a language lab and the remaining two campuses at Taramani and Marina would have similar labs in a month's time. Effective communication was essential for success in today's technological world, and the labs would improve the employability of over 3,000 students.
Compulsory
It is compulsory for all PG students of the university to use the labs to learn soft skills such as language and communication in English, spoken and presentation skills, personality development, basic computing and foreign language skills.
For M.Phil and Ph.D students, it is optional. The university has signed an MoU with Everonn Education Limited for training the students in soft skills.
“The Chepauk lab has been functioning for the past four years. The feedback has been quite encouraging. About 95 per cent of students felt satisfied at learning the course in a survey taken last week,” said S. Armstrong, co-ordinator, Language Laboratories and Head in-charge, Department of English.
Everonn officials said the university had agreed to establish a VSAT classroom on the campus and the success of it would enable them to extend the facility to other affiliated colleges as well.
The virtual classroom was to bridge the industry-academia gap and provide students the benefit of guest lectures and special sessions from experts across the country.
