The Third International FIESOLE Group Symposium organized by the Centre for Teaching Quality and Innovation (CQUID) of UPF and the vice-rector for Teaching and Academic Planning,  Mireia Trenchs, member of the Group, was held recently at the Ciutadella campus.

It enjoyed the presence of teachers of applied linguistics and languages of different European universities that make up the Group, as well as guest lecturers from UPF and several American institutions, including Yale University and Columbia University.

The training of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers as future teachers and the policies of multilingualism in higher education constituted the core of the symposium of the FIESOLE Group, an organization founded in 2006 at the European University Institute (IUE) in Florence, which brings together teachers of applied linguistics and languages from different universities on the continent.

The meeting, under the title " Training (future) university researchers and teachers for multilingual, international universities", took place on 12 and 13 March at the Mercè Rodoreda building on the Ciutadella campus, with the active participation of members of the CQUID and other lecturers of the University, who shared their experiences with the Goup and the guest leturers.

Mireia Trenchs opened the Symposium, which enjoyed the participation, among others, of the members of the group Nicki Owtram, coordinator of the English Unit at the European University Institute (IUE);  Laurie Anderson, professor of English linguistics at the University of Siena and at the IUE;  Nick Byrne, director of the Language Centre of the London School of Economics (LSE); and David Bowskill, specialist in the teaching of English for academic and legal fields at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Other speakers were two Danish representatives: Joyce Kling, Member of the Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use at the University of Copenhagen, and Karen M. Lauridsen, of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Aarhus University.

The Initial Training of University Teachers (FIDU) and the Plan for Multilingualism at UPF

At a time when Pompeu Fabra University is in the process of improving its teacher training programme and redefining the Plan of Action for Multilingualism (PAM) in the coming years, the symposium was the perfect setting for the different agents of the University involved in this process to be able to explain all of the work done and how the present situation has been reached.

Taking part, on the one hand, were Josep Eladi Baños, former vice-rector for Teaching and Academic Planning at UPF, and promoter at UPF of Initial Training of University Teachers (FIDU); Ingrid Sabaté, CQUID officer for the area of ​​initial training of university teachers and continuing education; David Pretel, former scholarship holder on the Max Weber programme and lecturer in the Department of Economics and Business who experienced the FIDU programme when he began to teach UPF.

In addition, Carmen Pérez Vidal, former vice-rector for Language Policy at UPF and promoter of the PAM, and Mireia Calm, CQUID technical officer and current Multilingualism coordinator at the University, explained the model that led UPF to become the first university in Catalonia to have a language policy supporting multilingualism.

Finally, Toni Luna, Ester Oliveras and Baldo Oliva, lecturers of the departments of Humanities, Economics and Business, and Information and Communications Technologies, respectively, explained their classroom experience in the use of English as the language of instruction.

Improving multilingual academic practices

The FIESOLE Group began its work in 2006 at the European University Institute in Florence to give support to the first cohort of Max Weber post-doctoral scholarship holders of this institution.

Since then, the Group 's activities have widened to include a concern with developing and disseminating best practices in the field of multilingual academic communication.

In addition to developing materials, methodologies and curricular guidelines for multilingual contexts it contributes to academic practice by organizing workshops and weeks of teaching practice in different European cities.