Campus Europae Newsletter, June 2008
Table of contents
- Campus Europae in MOLAN
- Fast Facts
- Vojvodina Minister of Science awards scholarships to Campus Europae movers
- CE-movers marching in
- Campus Europae captures the imagination of Portuguese second level students
- Academic Freedom at the centre of EHU’s 15th anniversary
- Campus Europae Business Subject Committee Meeting
- Upcoming events
- Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting
- Business Subject Committee Meeting
Campus Europae in MOLAN
Multilingualism is one of the main symbols of a unified but diverse Europe. It is also a core point of European policy. Europe learns to cherish its linguistic diversity as a distinct advantage and not to treat it as a barrier for cooperation and development. The ultimate goal is clear – Europeans should speak more foreign languages and carry through this habit in the spirit of life long learning. The question posed how can we achieve it? How can we motivate young people – pupils and students to learn more languages? What are the best practices which have been already proven to be successful? How to make less widely spoken languages more popular? The answers to these questions are varied. CE however is a partner of MOLAN project which tries to analyze these questions and problems and find out the best solutions.
MOLAN is a network of over 40 higher education institutions and schools from 24 European countries and encompasses four major European and national associations including the:
- European Language Council (CEL/ELC)
- European University Foundation - Campus Europae
- EUN Partnership AISBL (European School net)
- CILT, UK National Centre for Languages
Why was the MOLAN project launched? Although young Europeans in formal education should acquire multilingual competence, neither the principle of linguistic diversity nor the notion of lifelong language learning is widely accepted by young people or by educational authorities and institutions. On the other hand we can recognize the effort of a number of universities and schools which have introduced special language policies encouraging successfully that young people learn more foreign languages. MOLAN is built on case studies of successful policies, strategies and practices with a view to sharing best practice across Europe. Campus Europae has contributed as a case study with its language concept.
MOLAN is a three year project. The year 2008 is its first stage when all study cases and data are being collected. The results of MOLAN stage I will be presented directly to the European Commissioner responsible for Multilingualism Leonard Orban at a conference in Brussels on the 5th and 6th of December 2008. MOLAN stage II will take place in 2009 and will involve the creation of a web-based system for targeted information retrieval. The partners will also prepare a handbook on best practices. In MOLAN stage III the focus will be put on the preparation of impact reports and a statement on institutional and system-based policies and practices which will be submitted directly to the European Commission as the recommendation package.
The research made by MOLAN has resulted so far in defining the main factors which influence a language learning progress and the motivation of its learners. Employability has been stated by the majority of study cases as one of the most important reasons to learn a foreign language. Additional linguistic skills can significantly increase the opportunities of postgraduates to attain quality employment upon graduation. The case of Campus Europae has broadened that aspect of the employability of undergraduates in the student exchange. In CE students, who participate in the Learning Employability Places Programme are employable before graduation and during their studies abroad. Working in a foreign country and using a foreign language gives them an additional opportunity to improve their language skills and motivate them to attain better fluency in that particular language.
All MOLAN’s partners have agreed that drawing one’s attention to language courses is not that difficult as sustaining the motivation of learners to achieve gradually higher levels of language knowledge. The partners’ study cases and the discussion among participants pointed out very clearly that two main factors play the deciding role to sustain the motivation. These are methodology and motivation of a teacher. The methodology should allow learners to attain basic communicative skills at the initial learning phase. Ability to use a language – even in its elementary form – has a high motivation value. The teacher’s motivation can not be underestimated as it is directly transposed to the learners. Furthermore, learning a foreign language is a process of acquainting with a foreign culture so the content of language courses has to be rich in the culture topics. The MOLAN analysis has highlighted the importance of collaboration with other educational institutions which can take place in different forms and levels, for instance international e-tandems where students can practice their skills with colleagues from different country who are native speakers via e-platforms. Moreover cooperation with language institutes awarding internationally recognized certificates influences on the attractiveness of a course.
MOLAN is the first project which takes the challenge to collect the data about motivation of young language learners in order to diagnose the situation in Europe, to gather the best practices and disseminate them. Admittedly, the final results of MOLAN will not appear until 2010 but by then we will have a clear and objective picture of the most efficient motivating practices with the CE language concept among them.
Fast Facts
Vojvodina Minister of Science awards scholarships to Campus Europae movers
The Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina has always been a strong supporter with regards the engagement of the University of Novi Sad in Campus Europae – a support that is particularly vital to some of its outgoing students, as Serbian students cannot benefit from Erasmus funding. Thus on the 8th of June Vojvodina Provincial Minister of Science, Prof. Dragoslav Petrovic, presided the scholarship awarding ceremony that presented the eight best outgoing students with a state grant for their year abroad, worth in between 3000 and 5000€ (the support in given in relation to the living costs of the country of destination, in accordance with the CE tenets).
Also in attendance were the Rector of the University of Novi Sad, Prof. Radmila Marinkovic-Neducin, Vice-Rector Miroslav Plancak and the Chair of the CE Engineering Subject Committee, Prof. Vladimir Katic, among other distinguished guests and press.
CE-movers marching in
In Campus Europae the end of an academic year is quickly followed by the beginning of the next one, at least for the CE movers that will partake the intensive language courses, which is highly encouraged both to ease linguistic and social integration from the beginning of the semester on and to enhance chances of fulfilling the pre-requisites for being awarded the CE certificate. CE movers are thus required to arrive earlier to their universities of destination, as detailed:
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Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas: 22nd July
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European Humanities University, Vilnius: 28th July
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University of Joensuu: 4th August
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University of Latvia, Riga: 4th August
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University of Vienna: 1st September
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Greifswald University: 1st September
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University of Novi Sad: 1st September
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University of Hamburg: 1st September
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Gazi University: 18th September
For more information please contact the local coordinators or the CE secretariat.
Campus Europae captures the imagination of Portuguese second level students
Three students in the last year of their secondary studies in Aveiro have chosen Campus Europae as the main topic for their project discipline. “We plan to engage in a exchange programme upon commencing our higher education and we heard about Campus Europae, which being much less known than Erasmus seems to offer some interesting features that we went on to investigate”, explained Daniela Soares. And so they did, with the product of their interest being a 25 page report that details the origin and aims of CE, its organs, coverage, language policy, application process, financing possibilities and the CE degree. Other aspect that was looked with interest concerned the role of the Student Council in the larger context of CE’s objectives.
Picture 2: a view of the lecture organized about Campus Europae
By way of conclusions they didn’t shy away from stressing that details matter a lot, for they can enhance greatly the benefits reaped during a year abroad – an aspect in which they found Campus Europae to outperform Erasmus – and that mobility can play a crucial role in widening horizons and developing competences that may prove crucial for facilitating entrance in the labour market.
Academic Freedom at the centre of EHU’s 15th anniversary
The European Humanities University is organizing the conference “Defending the University: Academic Freedom in Central and Eastern Europe”, together with the Scholars at Risk Network. The conference will take place in Vilnius on the 20 and 21 of June and will feature case studies and reports from Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
The conference is integrated in the 15th anniversary celebrations of the European Humanities University. More informations can be found here.
Campus Europae Business Subject Committee Meeting
The last meeting of the Campus Europae Business Subject Committee Meeting took place in Riga at the University of Latvia, on the 23rd May. The committee examined in depth possibilities for further exchange and discussed future prospects for exchange for the next academic year. From preliminary examination the outlook remains positive that overall numbers can be increased and distribution improved also across the board. Arising from a detailed examination of questionnaires circulated internally within the committee, members are refining the projected matrices for next year and are now undergoing a process of cross checking the matrices scheme for the upcoming academic year and the integration of new members into the business matrices structure. A comprehensive power point was presented to the members which illustrates a road map for progression of the matrices.
Upcoming events
Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting
University of Latvia, 19th June
Business Subject Committee Meeting
University of Alcala, 4th July
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