A reference for multilingualism
A reference for multilingualism
The UAB has always been a reference in objective of Catalan universities to adopt multilingualism as a framework for language policy. Since 2008 the university has defined this framework of reference for university language policy in the Plan for Languages, understood as a roadmap which sets out the foundations and tools available to the different areas of the university so that they can carry out linguistic tasks in accordance with their particular needs.
The general framework of the plan includes the definition and role of the different languages at the university: Catalan as the language of the university, Catalan and Spanish as the official languages and English as a lingua franca. The role of other languages such as French, German, Italian and eastern Asian languages is also recognised for strategic or professional reasons in specific ambits.
The value of plurilingual and multicultural competences in the whole of the university community is recognised and different actions have been defined to encourage it and make it more visible:
- there are calls for grant applications and language programmes for students, academic staff and administration and services staff: grants for language learning for students doing placements abroad, grants for language learning for academic staff and grants for the organisation of seminar and conferences on multilingualism management in higher education.
- language course and linguistic and cultural exchange activities are carried out
- the university community offers resources for languages and for intercultural activities