The English and Foreign Languages University B.A Review By Subhrajit Ray

The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad (erstwhile known as CIEFL) is a Central University that specializes in english and foreign languages, and the only such University in South Asia to be of its kind. With a calm and quiet campus, tailor-made curriculum for courses and friendly professors of international repute, it is one of the premier universities in the country. Being one of its kind, it has only risen in popularity and especially so since it gained central university status in 2006. Teaching foreign languages for Bachelors up to Masters and even Ph.D degrees, it has relations with Universities from France, UK, Japan, among others. With an “A” ranking from the NAAC, it is one of the premier educational institutions in the country. Native foreign language teachers from abroad not only help teach students to be more natural and native-like in their speaking, they also help in imparting in-depth knowledge of their respective cultural ideas as well. The EFLU is well acclaimed in the International sphere as well, with hundreds of transfer students coming for various courses each year.

It has a fairly straightforward admission process with a 2-hour long online examination that is held in various cities around the country. The applicant has to sign up for the online examination and they have to appear at the designated test center and undertake the examinations. For the Bachelors’ and the Masters’ courses, the admission test is in February and the results are out by May. The college management is strict and the administration is efficient. There are various scholarships and concessions available for being accessible to all backgrounds.

The course I am currently studying is BA in Japanese. The eligibility for all the BA foreign languages courses are the same- the applicant has to have passed their 10+2 examinations with a minimum of 50% for General and 45% for SC/ST students. The aggregate must include the subject English. Candidates who appear for the examination before their qualifying exam must pass the qualifying exam by the time of admission with the above mentioned scores. I joined this course after completing my BA in English and yes, it is possible as well. In fact, we have seniors who have opted to study this course after completing their Bachelors and Masters Degree.

Personally, I joined the course of BA Japanese because of my interest in the language and the cultural aspects of Japan. The course has certain papers which I never thought I’d be studying, as apart from various papers in Japanese as its core, there were papers on Environmental Studies, Hindi and compulsory English classes as well. The courses were created keeping the changing times in mind, and are updated frequently. There were also papers of Contemporary society and History as well, and all are masterfully aimed at providing an all round knowledge of the subject, which is highly appreciated. This course, especially in times such as these when Indo-Japan relations are at their strongest, would definitely be beneficial in helping me build a career once I graduate. There are placement cells and professors to help landing a job.

The EFLU boasts a strong repertoire of highly qualified teachers in all the streams it offers. There are 7 professors for the Japanese department who are highly qualified, experienced and widely acclaimed. The senior professors have 30 plus years of teaching experience, and others have at least 10 years of experience, and they all are extremely helpful, approachable and kind to their students. They are all post graduates and some are doctorates. There are about 170 permanent professors along with many other guest lecturers in EFLU. The professors are always willing to help students in improving and while there are some weaker students, they never feel out of place in their lectures. There is a sense of belongingness and camaraderie in between the professors and their students, as they are always involved in the teaching process, and will go the extra mile to help their students with their problems.

The Student-teacher ratio in EFLU is one of the highest in the country, i.e. there are fewer students per teacher, which increases the quality of teaching by a good margin. The class strength is always kept pretty low compared to other universities, there are only 20 students in a class. We also have a Japanese native teacher who was kind enough to teach us and provide first-hand knowledge about the entirely different culture of the nation we are studying. We also have had various International conferences organized by the EFLU in collaboration with JLESA and the Japan Foundation.

There is a Placement cell in the college which helps in finding jobs for the graduates. The placement cell invites companies through the HR Department personnel and organizes placement drives. It then welcomes interested organizations and companies to hold the placement drives. The cell then informs the participants about the same and organizes the event. More than 90% applicants have been selected and have landed a job. They have been selected in University of Hyderabad, University of Dammam (Saudi Arabia), SRM University, National Institute of Technology, Voxta Communication, Bellwether Digital Media (P) Ltd., etc.

The foreign language students have found jobs in Amazon, Concentrix, HP, IBM, Oracle, TCS, Toshiba etc. Our immediate seniors have landed jobs of packages upwards of Rs. 6-7 lacs per annum, and over 90% of the applicants have secured jobs form campus. The others have opted for further studies or jobs they secured outside.

There is ample hostel accommodation available for students as there are 5 hostel buildings. They are namely Basheer hostel for men, Akka Mahadevi hostel for women, Maalaqa Bai hostel for women, Tagore International hostel for men and Amrita Pritam International hostel for women. There are separate hostels for international students and the hostels have within them superior rooms when compared to their Indian counterparts. There are about 450+ rooms in the largest hostel i.e. the Basheer Men’s hostel, with fewer rooms in the other hostels. The rooms are quite alright- nothing fancy but do the job, and they are used on a shared basis, where two students share one room. The rooms come pre-furnished with two beds, two desks, one wall mounted cupboard and an almirah.

There are 2-3 large bathrooms on each floor, which seems about enough. There is some overcrowding during the rush hour which is about an hour before the classes start at 9am in the morning. The hostel interiors are somewhat similar in the hostels for Indian students, but the International hostels are a bit more luxurious. All the hostels have unlimited Wi-Fi and safety measures such as fire extinguishers and 24-hour security guards. There is a mess in the ground floor of each hostel, where food is served to the hostellers, and is pretty moderate- not too bad, not too good. The mess provides three meals a day, with only 3 meals a week having non-vegetarian food. There are other eateries such as the university canteen and restaurants nearby for eating out. The yearly fee for a student in the Indian hostel is about Rs.1800 (Rs. 600 for SC/ST students) and the mess fee is about Rs. 2000-2500 per month.

The facilities available are quite enough for the average student. The university neither boasts of a humongous campus nor top of the line infrastructure, but they get it about right. Everything a student could likely need is present and accounted for, but nothing is over the top flashy. The only thing flashy about EFLU is its highly qualified teachers. It is a relatively small campus for a central university, but with about 1800 students at a time, it doesn’t feel crowded. It's a small and cozy little campus with familiar faces each time you walk by. There is ample greenery around the campus and there aren’t any roads which get uncomfortable because there’s so much greenery. The decor is kept simple and minimal. There are two Foreign Language buildings (Old FL and New FL buildings). The New FL building is where our classes are held. It is five stories filled with classrooms and well equipped laboratories with ample sunlight and airflow. There are projectors in each classroom to aid audio-visual modes of teaching. Apart from the New and Old FL buildings, there are the Distance Education building, the Ramesh Mohan Library, the Study rooms, Help desks for foreign students, the canteen, the essentials-cum-snack shop, the university Music Room, Administrative building, the New Academic Block (NAB) and the EMMRC buildings. There is a moderately sized field where students play football, cricket and volleyball. There is a leisure area fitted with benches overlooking the field which is simply referred to as benches by the students, where an evening cup of tea or a hang-out session is a staple.

The canteen serves fairly tasty food whilst maintaining good hygiene, and there is a beautiful area with benches and trees in front of it. Students come here to discuss studies, talk, unwind and simply hang out. The music room is a personal favorite, where guitars, keyboards, tablas and drums are up for practice and random jams, and a music teacher who’s always keen to teach playing the instruments and hang out with- highly recommended. There is a ‘Maggi Hotspot’ which serves various kinds of maggi and coffee beverages up until 2 am at night so it's the perfect spot to satiate the midnight hunger pangs or a quick chocolate after a late night study session. There are swings, slides and some gym equipment in the University Park which is fairly large and is frequented by joggers and casual strollers. Also there is a well equipped gym with treadmills and whatnot to take care of our body. There is also a Health Centre where there’s almost always a doctor on call. Although sometimes understaffed, it serves the purpose. There is a 24 hour ambulance on standby for emergency purposes. In a nutshell, the campus is well endowed with the essentials and provides a very warm and welcoming outlook.

The campus being small and the total strength being fairly low, there are a lot of familiar faces in the campus. And being a residential university, it never feels too alien or lonesome. Everyone is friendly and actively tries to get along with each other. The university and the student council organize many events around the year which adds to the campus experience. Freshers and farewell events are a staple and apart from that various cultural events are held on a massive scale including music, art and dance performances. Various festivals such as Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam etc. are celebrated. The university is also invited to fests held by other colleges such as BITS and Christ Church, which it actively participates in.

Recently the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were held which was a grand success. Since it is a university with international students, the Foreign Languages day is a feast to experience. Students from various parts of the world showcase their nation’s cultural specialties and it is great to experience the vividness of cultures. Costumes, languages, music and dance all are showcased in the cultural extravaganza. There are sports tournaments and other competitions held and organized by the student council. Also there are clubs - the Music club, the Theatre club etc. which are active as well. The university does not invite other colleges for its events solely because of the lack of available space but apart from that each and every event is organized and executed with flying colours, and definitely achieve its goals of interaction and student’s personal growth.