It is a truth universally acknowledged that foreign language learning is an integral part of university education. Universities, therefore, cannot do without foreign language teaching in order to meet the needs of the global job market. Some languages like English and French have become international tools of communication in the world of academia. Accordingly, the AU is no different from other well-established universities to adopt the teaching of foreign languages in all its programs.
The College of Humanities and Sciences has made available an appropriate academic environment with global standards for that purpose. It employs highly qualified university faculty of different nationalities and different language specializations in order to comply with the requirements of each program and to provide the standard needed linguistic knowledge and skills.
The Department of Foreign Languages seeks to establish excellent standards of teaching and assessing student performance in order to come up with competitive graduates with parallel distinctive linguistic skills and knowledge.
After completing their program’s degrees, student are expected to write assignments, long essays, reports and projects. They may sit and easily pass written and oral examinations in which timed essays or talks are mostly in a foreign language (usually English) the means of communication. Excellent comprehension levels and basic writing skills are the needed tools that oftentimes students will draw upon.
A major target in foreign language teaching and learning is to ensure that students achieve as high a level of English Language development as possible. Even students who find the language difficult are able to accomplish a good rock-hard grounding in English.
Mission: The mission of the Department of Foreign Languages (DFL) is to provide professional services to the programs offered by AU colleges in order to enable learners to communicate efficiently in English and French, through the most appropriate academic environment and highly qualified and devoted staff who help students attain the highest possible level of language proficiency.
Vision: The Department of Foreign Languages (DFL) strives to be a contributing provider of academic excellence. It aspires to see employers in the job market uniquely select and recruit AU graduates mainly for their excellent linguistic skills and knowledge.