Chennai: The next academic session of the University of Madras will see one foreign language mandatory for the postgraduate students in their curriculum.

G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor, University of Madras said that, "We plan to start the initiative with the French language for the Business Management and Computer Science stream students."

"The university currently offers six foreign languages including French. The advantages of learning a foreign language are many," said the VC while speaking on the sidelines of the Bonjour India Festival, held at the Senate House of the University.

The Consul General of France, as a gesture of goodwill, has offered a complimentary service of a French faculty for six hours a week, he announced.

Talking about the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and exchange programmes of the university, the VC announced the coming up of an international hostel with 250 rooms on the Guindy campus, which shall cost them Rs.3 crore.

Jacques Valade, French Roving Ambassador for Culture in Asia, while speaking about various countries in the world sharing the French language tagged them under one term called ‘Francophony’ while stressing the need to expand it pro-actively.

Answering a query from a student on whether knowing French is compulsory to study in France, he replied that there is no such obligation for students especially at the post-doctoral level.

Highlighting the role of French teachers and the importance of learning the language Mr. Valade said that, "Although we are constrained by the economic slump down to manage with less resources but that does not mean that we are ignoring the initiatives to promote the language."

The university also aims to reach the southern tips of the country by introducing a new regional centre at Madurai, which will be a spot admission centre for the university's Directorate of Distance Education.