The faculties of Education in Catalonia will evaluate the level of Catalan of the new students to address the support they will need throughout their training with the aim of graduating with the greatest competence.
This measure promoted by the departments of Research and Universities as well as Education is part of the guide for the development of plans to increase teaching in Catalan in universities approved today by the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (CIC), in which all campuses are represented.
According to a statement from the Department of Research and Universities, universities will carry out a “diagnostic test” to know the level of Catalan of the students and thus be able to “address possible deficiencies during studies or the establishment of specific training language workshops.” to improve linguistic competence in Catalan according to their needs.”
Training actions will also be scheduled to promote awareness of the linguistic responsibility of future teachers as linguistic models for their students.
This measure aims to reinforce the teaching of Catalan at school. The language proficiency of secondary school students is at historic lows, according to the latest basic skills assessments. In primary school it increased slightly.
Likewise, the Department of Education will expand the census evaluations (currently carried out in the last year of the stage) to 4th grade of primary school and 2nd grade of ESO, in order to correct the trend before these students leave the educational centers.
The Department of Universitats has increased aid by 35% to finance projects promoted by the linguistic services of Catalan universities to promote Catalan and multilingualism on campuses through Interlingua aid to promote Catalan, Aranese, Catalan sign language and third languages.
The guide provides guidelines for each university to develop its own plan for the use of Catalan in teaching based on its internal dynamics and its starting point.
These grants mainly prioritize linguistic and cultural reception projects for non-Catalan students, but they are also used for other actions such as the development of linguistic resources for the university community or campaigns to raise awareness of linguistic rights among students.
Regarding the incorporation of non-Catalan speaking students (from other autonomous communities or foreigners), the linguistic reception programs have been reinforced that aim to facilitate the incorporation of these students into the academic and social life of the campuses, as well as preserve the rights linguistics of the local community.
To this end, Universities have recalled that basic level face-to-face and virtual courses are organized that already have more than 3,000 participants, welcome sessions and workshops in which information is provided about languages in Catalonia and at the university.
In addition, he has indicated that universities organize language pairs between local and mobility students, mentoring programs in which local students offer support to international students on linguistic and cultural issues, or conversation groups to practice Catalan and third languages, among others. activities.
