Albisteak
Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC)
Since January 2008, the author has been in touch with the European Commission with a view to getting Catalan added to the list of eligible languages in the Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC).
The EILC, supported by the Commission, are courses in the less-used and less-taught languages of the EU and of other countries taking part in the Erasmus programme.
These courses offer Erasmus students the opportunity to study in situ the language of their host country for a period of up to six weeks.
In the 2005-2006 academic year, for instance, classes were given in the relevant languages to 153 students in Denmark, 215 in Greece, 78 in Lithuania, 115 in Hungary and 254 in Finland: in all, 3.864 students.
In the 2007 08 academic year, the only official EU languages not eligible for the EILC were English, German, French and Spanish, which is why no courses were offered in the UK, Ireland, France, the French and German communities in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Spain.
Before the Lifelong Learning Programme the Lingua list excluded Catalan, Galician and Basque, and universities had to bear the financial onus of courses in our languages for foreign students, sometimes with the support of our governments. But there is no longer an exclusive list.
Moves were thus needed so as to incorporate courses in our languages in the EILC initiative.
It is surprising that the list does not include Spain — a country in many of whose universities the official language is Catalan, Basque or Galician, all of which are amongst the languages which may be selected by students attending Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC).
Among the moves has been a question put to the Commission by Catalan MEP Ignasi Guardans on March 31 2008 (E-1747/08), in which he asked whether the Commission was thinking of taking any action to make it possible for Catalan, Galician and Basque to be taught and learned within the EILC initiative.
Commissioner Jan Figel replied (May 20th) that less widely used and less taught regional languages which are essential for the purpose of studying in another country are not excluded from EILC, though currently there are no such courses in these languages.
The inclusion of additional languages in EILC would have budgetary implications for the Erasmus financial allocation. The EU contributes about EUR 270 per student, on average, enrolled on an EILC.
His reply ended by stating that any extension of EILC to include additional languages would have to be carried out in consultation with the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) Committee.
A few days later the Commission informed me that the inclusion of the languages not currently covered through the EILC will not be possible until the budget for 2010 is adopted.
In the meantime there was a change in the LLP Committee membership. Since spring the head of European projects of a Language Service in the Catalan government’s Department of Education is a substitute member. She has informed me that the Spanish national Agency (and thus the Spanish government) has already okayed the inclusion of our languages in the EILC.
The time will soon come when universities which teach through the medium of the respective languages in the Catalan-speaking lands, Galicia, the Basque country and Navarre will be able to apply for EU funding and offer Erasmus Intensive Language Courses. Both the members of the Vives Network of Universities and the Ramon Llull Institute (that promotes and coordinates the teaching of Catalan at universities throughout the world), keenly await this new opportunity.
More information: Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC)
Miquel Strubell
Professor of Languages and Cultures Studies of Open University of Catalonia
