Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University is all set to become the first university in the state to launch PG courses in foreign languages by month-end to improve its students’ job prospects.

Syllabus for three courses — French, German and Japanese — has already been finalised and in the first phase 28 seats will be available for each course. Eligibility criteria for admission in the courses will be decided within a day or two.

“The languages were selected based on several factors like job prospective, availability of faculty in the adjoining areas and historical ties with the concerned country,” said head of the department of foreign languages Himanshu Shekhar Chaudhary.

“Over 220 million people across the world speak French. Besides having historical ties with Germany, learning German also offers a wide range of job opportunities in India and abroad,” added Chaudhary.

On selecting Japanese as a foreign language course, Chaudhary said they wanted to launch at least one Asian language this year.

Chaudhary also said they planned to set up additional infrastructure like library and language labs for which the university would seek fund from the state higher, technical education and skill development department.

On selecting the faculty for the languages courses, Chaudhary said they were in talks with several universities across the country. “We are in constant touch with the teachers of Sambalpur University, Odisha, Jadavpur University and Calcutta University,” he added.

“We are yet to finalise the eligibility criteria though we wish to entertain students who have completed advanced diploma in any of the three languages and should be a graduate,” said Chaudhary.