Studying Abroad

Campus Europae has defined as its main goal “the combination of excellent scientific qualification with international employability and an increasing awareness of the European identity and citizenship”. This ambitious aim will be brought to fruition by means of the “2 years, 2 languages” concept.

The acquisition of a European citizenship goes hand in hand with an in-depth knowledge of societies and cultures. In order to acquire this comprehension a prolonged stay in the host country (ies) and a comprehensive understanding of its language is necessary. CE therefore envisages two one-year periods of residence abroad, combined with the increase of the language skills of the participants.

Participation does not entail a commitment to go abroad two times: in fact most CE students normally arrange for a study year abroad – taking a second exchange year is left entirely to their motivation, with the role of Campus Europae being to encourage so and providing for the best possible conditions. With regards the length of the exchange spending an entire academic year abroad at a time is also a sensible option for organisational reasons: conflicts between different national academic calendars may be avoided and students will stand better chances in finding study related jobs while abroad.The combination of study and work is of interest not only for financial reasons but also because it will strengthen the cultural and linguistic integration while enhancing their international employability.

Language-wise Campus Europae students are not asked to master the language of their host country before their arrival - that would limit the number of students who would qualify for a period of studies abroad. In fact our students are highly encouraged not to disregard countries where minority languages are spoken.

The CE approach to language learning bases itself in the following 3 steps:

• 1st step: a short introductory course online or at the home university,
• 2nd step: a four to six weeks intensive course with 30 hours per week before the start of the study year at the host university and
• 3rd step: a language course during the first half of the year parallel to the study programme.

The intensive language courses are combined with other forms of support, namely in Universities where few courses are available in English. The exact mix of tools varies across the network, with language courses often being combined with peer and/or tutor support, English bibliography and other accompanying measures. While such a large network accommodates considerable diversity with regards language learning strategies all are designed with a view to safeguard the student’s capacity to perform normally from an academic viewpoint while abroad.

Interestingly the first four years of CE exchanges have demonstrated that students that seek to engage in the full range of language training provided already display considerable linguistic autonomy by the beginning of their second semester abroad.

With regards final exams and examinations most professors will be willing to arrange for either oral exams or accept written works in English, but this remains to be agreed in detail upon arrival. 

To access the CE online language learning platform please visit http://hookuplanguagelearning.weebly.com/index.html

A Video Conversation on Multilingualism, Mobility and Language-learning (external link)