British Council to launch new courses

 British Council, a division of the British High Commission in India, is launching two new courses in teaching – TKT and IELTS - Train the Trainer course.

Addressing the media Paul Sellers, Director, South India, said “The TKT course can be used as preparation for the Cambridge TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) exams or as a standalone teacher training course. It will help those who teach, or would like to teach.”

The first course in Term 1 will cover Module 1 (language and background to language learning and teaching), for 28 hours over seven weeks. The second course in Term 2 covers Modules 2 and 3 (lesson planning and use of resources for language teaching and selection and use of resources and materials), for 28 hours over seven weeks. These modules will be repeated every alternative term.

The course is a package offer along with the Cambridge TKT exam, also administered by the British Council, and TKT trainees are given a discounted exam fee. There will be a special launch offer discount on  course fee for trainees registering in Term 1. The courses start from May 30 and the timing is 5.15 p.m. to 7.15 p.m.

British Council’s 18-hour Train the Trainer course for IELTS trainers, delivered over three days, will help trainers to prepare their candidates for success in the IELTS exam. The course is delivered by experienced IELTS trainers and explores the latest methodology and classroom techniques to make training courses interactive and effective. The Term 1 of the course will be conducted from June 11 to 13 from10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Both courses require the trainees to have a strong B1 (Intermediate) level or higher to join the course. The BC Chennai Teaching Centre is also launching Regular Young Achievers courses for eight to 12-year-old. 

British Council launches two new courses

Chennai: In an effort to impart quality training to upcoming teachers, British Council announced the launch of two new courses Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) and IELTS courses under its new "Train the Teacher" initiative.
  
The TKT and the IELTS courses would be launched in the British Council Hyderabad and Chennai units, a press release here said.
  
The TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) course, focuses on training the candidates for the Cambridge TKT examination while the IELTS programme would help trainers prepare for their IELTS examinations conducted by British Council.   

"The TKT course can be used as preparation for the Cambridge TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) examinations or as a standalone teacher training course" British Council South India-Director Paul Sellers said.
   
The course is a package offer along with the Cambridge TKT examination administered by the British Council and TKT trainees are given a discounted exam fee.
  
There is a special discount on course fee for trainees. The courses begin on May 30 in Chennai and Hyderabad, the statement added.

UK PG degree not recognised in India

A UK postgraduate degree, for which thousands of Indian students aspire for every year, is not recognised in India as a PG degree and candidates holding such degrees may be rejected by the varsities for higher studies like Ph.D.

The stand taken by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and the British Council that guides Indian students on UK education too seem to corroborate this view. Recently, an Indian student, Himanshu Vyas,  applied for a Ph.D programme in an Indian university after completing his M.Sc. in International Business from Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham.

However, his application was rejected on the ground that the postgraduate degree he pursued was of one year duration. Realising the problem, Himanshu wrote to the British Council and he got a reply that recognition of overseas degrees in India is guided by Government of India regulations and AIU was the right authority. Moreover, it made it clear that the British Council does not offer equivalence certificates.

When he checked the AIU website, it clearly indicated that Master Degree programmes which are less than two years in duration of foreign universities will not be accorded equivalence and AIU does not issue Equivalent Certificates in such cases. Interestingly, AIU is the only recognised body in India for granting academic equivalence of degrees and diplomas not only within the country but also to other similar bodies in foreign countries.

The website also indicates that the AIU has signed Memorandum of Understanding Arab Republic of Egypt, Russian Federation, Australia, Germany and Sri Lanka. As per the provisions of the MoU, the degrees awarded by the accredited universities of these concerned countries, for the full time programmes offered on the campus of the country of origin are accepted for admission to higher courses by Indian universities on reciprocal basis.

After spending lakhs of rupees for the course, Himanshu is now worried that his dad's money and precious time have gone down the drain.

Ravilochan Singh, Managing Director of Global Reach, a prominent education consultancy, says thousands of students who go to UK are now worried. He says “AIU needs to be presented with facts so that it can change its equivalence system and accords exception to the one year Masters from UK.”

At the same time, he says British Council needs to lobby for recognition of British Masters degrees of one year duration before it begins claiming the British Degrees are globally recognised.

“The least they can do if they fail to do justice to students is to promote their Masters with a clear statutory disclaimer that their degrees are not eligible for further education in India.”