Students from Germany‚ Saudi Arabia‚ Italy and East Africa are flocking to the University of Cape Town to learn English UCT's English Language Centre aims to cash in on the booming global English language learning market and to provide specialised tuition to South African university applicants.“There are currently around 25 language schools [in Cape Town]‚” said centre principal Simon Harrison at its launch on Thursday.“What differentiates the ELC is that firstly‚ it is underpinned by the UCT quality benchmark; secondly‚ students will be immersed in a multicultural university community that will expose them to an unrivalled mix of social‚ academic and tourist activities; and lastly‚ students will benefit from the university’s established support systems.”The centre provides a package that includes accommodation and visa assistance‚ and since opening last November it has taught the equivalent of 340 student weeks. Another 1‚200 weeks have been booked‚ stretching into 2018.Harrison said one of its goals was to aid students in being more successful in their studies and more employable on the global market.“English is a key requirement in today’s global working world‚” says Harrison. “Some view English as a gateway into the best colleges or universities. For others‚ it is simply about acquiring a new set of language skills and exploring a different culture."UCT humanities dean Professor Sakhela Buhlungu said the centre offered a competitive and commercial course to compete on the open market. “Humanities is usually seen as the softer side of the university‚ but this offering is anything but soft‚” he said.“We are offering professional and cutting-edge general and business English learning options that are geared towards making students more employable internationally.”The centre is also expanding its courses to include existing UCT students as well as external applicants with academic potential‚ and its first Teaching English as a Foreign Language course starts in June...