Centre of Language Studies at Unimas gets faculty boost

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Kadim (seventh left) poses with Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies students and organisers of Unimas National Language Month 2016 programme. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa

Kadim (seventh left) poses with Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies students and organisers of Unimas National Language Month 2016 programme. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa

KOTA SAMARAHAN: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) has been given the approval to set up the Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies.

Telling reporters the approval was given last year, its vice-chancellor Professor Dato Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi said the purpose was to upgrade the Centre of Language Studies to a faculty.

“This is to show that we are seriously focusing on languages and communications which we combine into a faculty,” he said.

“We are going to propose a number of programmes and one of them is language and communication. We propose to revive the Teaching of English as Second Language (TESL) programme which we did before due to the importance of the language as a global communication tool,” he added.

Kadim was interviewed by reporters after launching the Unimas National Language Month 2016 at the Lobby of the Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies at the university’s campus in Kota Samarahan yesterday.

He pointed out that the programme was in line with the state’s government’s stand to use Bahasa Malaysia and English as the language of communication in the state.

He also disclosed they had lined up a number of programmes to support the state government’s stand on the use of the English language.

With that in view, he said they had started the Bachelor of Science in Linguistic programme last year and would be offering two other programmes next year for which they were awaiting approval from the appropriate ministry and Malaysia Qualification Agency (MQA).

“We hope to offer the two new programmes – Bachelor of English for Global Communication and Bachelor of Strategic Communications – in Sept 2017,” he said.

He also said the university had a number of programmes in the pipeline for 2018.

“However, there are processes the university needs to follow,” he pointed out.

On the National Language Month, he said it was to strengthen the knowledge and use of Bahasa Malaysia among the undergraduates.

Later, he gave away prizes to students from the faculty who won various linguistic competitions in the programme.

Earlier, joint organising chairman for the programme and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka state director Dr Hazami Jahari said his agency offered research

studies on the national language to graduates of the Faculty of Language Studies and Communication Studies.

The dean of Language Studies and Communication Studies Associate Professor Dr Norazuna Norahim was present.