To cater to the evergrowing job market demand for communicative English in the 21^st century, Indian universities have modified mostly the General English (GE) courses. This paper studies the GE courses offered in the conventional and professional degree programs in India with the help of some reports of commissions and committees and the past and the present syllabi of some universities in Maharashtra. It is noticed that GE courses offered in the professional degree programs are more updated with respect to the objectives, weightage to communication skills, interactive teaching methods and evaluation procedures. The focus of the GE courses appears to enhance the employability potential of the students studying in professional colleges.

Right from its formal introduction in India in 1835, English is linked with the employment prospects of Indians. In the colonial India, English education was a passport to government jobs while during the 21^st century, proficiency in English is a must for the private sector jobs. The 21^st century has opened up a large number of avenues to the graduates with good communication skills in English. The evergrowing job market demand for communicative English, which has compelled Indian universities to modify mainly the General English (GE) courses. To trace the evolution of the GE courses offered in Indian universities, the present paper deals with the reports of some commissions and committees and documents of some past and present syllabi of the GE courses offered in the conventional degree programs like B.A., B.Com. and B.Sc. and in the professional degree programs like B.Sc. (Computer Science) and B.E. in the University of Mumbai (UoM), University of Pune (UoP), Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK), North Maharashtra University (NMU), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded (SRTMU) with reference to duration, objectives, course content, materials, teaching methods and evaluation procedures.

An English Language Teaching (ELT) course in India is generally referred to as General English (Mohan and Banerji, 2003, p. 20). The GE is one of the main courses offered at the undergraduate level in Indian universities. In the faculty of Arts, the GE course is known as Compulsory English. In faculties of Science and Commerce, the GE courses are compulsory as well as optional. The GE course in Indian universities is always in a state of flux. In the past, GE courses were common to the students of Arts, Commerce and Science. During the 1970s, according to Ghosh et al. (1977) there was a noticeable tendency to provide different kinds of courses for students of different disciplines. Today, this trend is continued in some universities, for instance, English for Students of Arts (NMU) and English for Business Communication (SUK). Some universities like UoM, UoP, BAMU and SRTMU offer identical courses for the students studying in different streams. This reverse trend is perhaps due to globalization which offers more or less equal job opportunities to all graduates, irrespective of their streams.

English Studies Journal, General English Courses, Indian Universities, Professional Degree Programs, Communication Skills, English Language Teaching Course, Conventional Degree Programs, Business Communication, Economic Developments, Evaluation Procedures, Globalization.