View Catalan courses in the original…

The offer of authentic Catalan courses for mobile students from outside Catalan-speaking regions who want to spend time at universities in Catalonia is expanded this year and will be available at 21 European and Latin American universities. This type of course, with an increase of 8 universities compared to last year, is a joint initiative between the Department of Research and Universities and the Ramon Llull Institute, to promote the learning of the Catalan language in the countries of origin of mobility students who plan to stay at one of the twelve universities in Catalonia.

The 21 universities that originally offer these courses are the following:

·Germany: Goethe University Frankfurt; University of Konstanz; University of Leipzig

·Spain: Complutense University of Madrid; University of Alcala de Henares, University of Santiago de Compostela

·France:University of Lille; University of Grenoble Alpes

·Italy: Ca' Foscari University of Venice; Bari Aldo Moro University; University of Naples Federico II; University of Rome “La Sapienza”; University of Turin; Sister Ursula Benincasa University; University of Bologna

·Poland:University of Warsaw

·Portugal:University of Lisbon

·Counting unit:Durham University; Oxford university

·Serbia:University of Belgrade

·Chilean:University of Chile

All courses are face-to-face and semi-face-to-face, intensive, free, meet initial learning level A1 and last 30 hours, with some exceptions. In addition, it is also planned to offer an online course where students can follow 30 hours of online teaching. Last year, nearly 200 mobile students learned the Catalan language thanks to these courses, a number that is expected to rise significantly this year. The offer can be consulted online “Study Catalan before arriving in Catalonia”Students can participate in it through the form.

Likewise, as part of the plan to promote the Catalan language, last year the Department of Research and Universities launched a web page that brings together all available resources to promote the learning of the Catalan language in its original form. In addition to virtual resources, the site includes those courses originating from universities outside the Catalan-speaking regions, taught by Catalan teachers from the Llull Network of Catalan Studies Abroad, coordinated by the Ramon Llull Institute and formed by about 130 universities in more than 30 countries. In recent years, interest in learning the Catalan language abroad has increased, as evidenced by the fact that around 4,000 people are currently studying it at the Ramon Llull Institute.

Grants for doctoral theses in Catalan

The actions to promote the Catalan language in the university field of the Research Department and Universities Strengthening Plan also include the call, now open, for grants for doctoral theses written in the Catalan language (TDCAT 2024). Beneficiaries will be able to choose an amount of up to €1,000 to help cover expenses and administrative fees for completing the thesis and obtaining a doctoral degree.

The call for TDCAT 2024 scholarships, which is managed by the Agency for the Administration of University Grants and Research (AGAUR), will be open until 9 June at 2pm, with a total budget of €80,000. This invitation is addressed to all people who defended their thesis during 2023 and wrote it in the Catalan language. In addition, these theses must be integrated into the online doctoral theses repository before December 31, 2024.

Also in last year's call, with a budget of 80 thousand euros, 104 grants were awarded. In terms of areas of knowledge, the majority were health sciences, arts and humanities, followed by social sciences and biomedicine. Also, 63.46% of the beneficiaries of this type of assistance are female doctors.