The NED University of Engineering and Technology (NED) has
made learning Chinese mandatory for all first-year students inducted in
2017 and beyond, according to a notification issued by the university's registrar.
All
students from the university's latest batch have been asked to register
by Dec 15 for the "Chinese Language" course being offered.
It
will count as a non credit course, however; signalling that while the
university may not be aiming at producing fluent speakers just yet, it
does want its students to have a basic knowledge of the language's
mechanics.
Interest in Chinese languages, mainly
Mandarin, has picked up considerably in Pakistan ever since the formal
announcement of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
The
program offered by NED, which envisions itself as becoming "a leader in
enabling Pakistan's social and economic transformation", seems to echo a
wider belief that learning Chinese languages may help unlock a more
prosperous future as the two countries move closer together.
This
trend has also been noted at the National University of Modern
Languages (NUML) in Islamabad, which is dedicated to language studies.
Though
the university has had a Chinese language department in September 1970,
interest in the department has increased exponentially since it
enrolled its first batch, which comprised only 13 students.
More
recently, NUML officials say, enrolment has nearly doubled
year-on-year. This year, 460 students have been admitted into their
Chinese programme: 300 in the morning and 160 in the evening shifts.
To
match this increasing demand, the Chinese government contributed
towards the expansion of the Confucius Institute at NUML back in 2015.
"This centre will contribute towards cementing Pak-China relations," Zhang Daojian, a lecturer at the institute, had told Dawn at that point.
