India has seen huge growth in its IT (Information Technology) and service industries over recent years and this has highlighted the importance of building a workforce with good communication skills in English. Cambridge ESOL’s Business English Certificates (BEC) are being used by corporate organisations and educational institutions alike to ensure the English language skills of Indian students and employees meet international standards.
All three BEC certificates – BEC Preliminary, BEC Vantage and BEC Higher – are designed to test English for the purposes of international business. The BEC exam is suitable for adults who are either preparing for a career in business or are already in work, testing communication skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking, as well as knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. It is taken by over 75,000 people each year in around 60 countries around the world.
Trusted by business
Many corporate organisations are embedding BEC within their training programmes, recruiting job seekers and then equipping them with the necessary language skills. Vadiraja MS, Head Talent Transformation Team, HCL Capital Market Services (Operations), Bangalore, explained that their company has institutionalised the BEC exam in such a way that every employee has to complete the exam within six months of joining.
The potential benefits to the organisation are clear. Vadiraja MS said, ‘The usefulness of the exam can be gauged from the fact that our clients are now able to perceive the difference and we find that BEC Vantage matches favourably with the communication level desired by our clientele.’
Laura Cirello, Head Learning and Development, JP Morgan Treasury and Securities Services, Mumbai, added, ‘BEC has helped develop cross-cultural communication skills and overall development of the students. It has had an impact on confidence levels through international certification. It has also introduced unfamiliar situations and helped stimulate creative thinking and analysis.’
Valued in education
While many organisations are taking responsibility for the English language training of their staff, using BEC as the external measure of their employees’ ability, Cambridge ESOL is also working with numerous universities, engineering colleges and business schools to set up a supply of graduates who already have the required language skills.
For example, the Directorate of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu, officially endorses BEC as part of the curriculum of up to 250 colleges in the Tamil Nadu region of India. This makes BEC the first UK qualification to be officially recognised in India and around 12,000 candidates a year are expected to take BEC purely as a result of this initiative.
‘Research among employers in the IT and service sectors shows that our students are technically competent and have a strong work ethic,’ said Jatindranath Swain, IAS, Commissioner of Technical Education, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. ‘But they miss out on communication skills, especially spoken English. BEC is very practical and relevant and has helped our students become more competent and confident by improving language proficiency.’
Another recent development sees the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) working in partnership with the British Council to offer BEC to students of WBUT affiliated engineering and technology institutes. The aim is to help the students develop their Business English proficiency and thereby meet industry requirements.
Dr Ashoke R Thakur, Vice Chancellor, West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata, said, ‘In order for our students to pick up a successful professional career we felt that they must hone their skill in communication and the Cambridge BEC programme seemed to us to offer an excellent opportunity for our students.’
The two agreements in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are significant as they not only demonstrate BEC’s suitability as a measure of business English communication ability, but they are also likely to pave the way for similar agreements in other parts of the country.