Department of German

By : Admin | 2015-05-20

German as a foreign language has a long history in Nepal. The founder father of the School of International Languages, late former ambassador to Pakistan and China, Mr. Niranjan Bhattarai mentions in his article A Key to Understanding that German belongs to the nucleus group of three foreign languages along side with Nepali taught initially at the school in 1961 (!967, The International Association of University Presidents, Vol. III, No 1, p.6) . The school was later incorporated into Tribhuvan University and became the Campus of International Languages / Visva Bhasa Campus.

In the beginning, a One Year Course (Beginners/Ordinary Level) was offered which was soon expanded by a Second Year Course (Diploma/Advanced Level) and since 2003/4 by a Third Year Course (Post Advanced Level). 2003 is also the year when the Department of German got its own resource room after the second campus building had been constructed.  The Department Room, as it is called, got equipped with the latest in audio-visual teaching and learning aides including a satellite connection for live transmission of the German programmes of Deutsche Welle TV – and Radio (DW). This had become possible through the idea of the Department Head and the financial assistance for its realization from the German Embassy. The then acting German Ambassador, Rüdiger Lemp, was so kind to inaugurate the Department in the presence of the then Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tribhuvan University, Prof. Dr. Triratna Manandhar who later became Vice-Chancellor of the Lumbini  Buddhist University. About a year ago,  the present Campus Administration has provided the Department with an ADSL internet connection and the Campus with Wi-Fi.

Throughout all these years, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany supported the Campus by providing qualified German language teachers as well as technical and non-technical teaching and learning aides.

Starting from  1996, linguistically sufficiently qualified Nepalese persons holding at least a Bachelor Degree have been serving the Campus and the Department of German as part-time teachers.

Among the most prominent persons who learnt German at CIL are Mahesh Acharya, Minister of the present and the first democratically elected government of Nepal 1991, Dr. Novel Kishor Rai, Former Ambassador of Nepal to Germany, and Dr. Govind Pokharel, National Planning Commision. Others like Prof. Dr. Shishir K. Sthapit, Dr. Hiramani Ghimire, Dr. Rudra Lakshmi Shrestha, Jyoti Darnal either hold or held  important positions in the Development Sector of Nepal, in academic or conservational institutions, schools. Others have become successful business men or served at the German Embassy as, for instance, Tanka Lal Shrestha and his successor. Again others worked in different GOs, NGOs or  helped develop the private sector, especially the field of travel and tourism.

The demand for German language courses and their popularity has steadily been growing over the years, especially, during the last five years. In the year 2014, there were more than seven hundred students engaged in learning German on different levels. At present, ten courses are offered daily covering the levels from A1 to C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Students are also keen on taking up studies in Germany, be it in courses conducted in English or in German. In either case, a prior knowledge of German is necessary. Numerous girls explore their future possibilities through an Au-pair-stay in Germany and come for language training or level testing to the CIL.

Since long, there has been a demand for the upgrading of the present courses to a degree level. With the present Campus Chief, this decades’ old agenda has gained new momentum and it seems likely that in the near future a Four Years Bachelor Programme in German Studies will be started. Efforts in this direction had already been made in the past, however, they never proceeded as far as they did now.  Therefore, let us hope and pray that this time, they will reach the desired goal.

The Department of German is also proud of its former faculty member, Ram Prasad Awal, M.Sc., who received a DAAD scholarship to pursue a PH D research in Germany.

The present Faculty of the Department of German at CIL, TU consists of:

 

Dr. Manfred Treu, Head of the Department;

Mrs. Meera Tiwari, M. Eng.;

Miss Ichha Devi Maharjan, B.Sc.;

Mr. Sushil Ghimire, B.A.;