The Language Voluntariate programme at Pompeu Fabra University aims to foster awareness of the Catalan language and reality on the part of foreign students, on the one hand, and to promote "internationalization at home" and language learning by regular UPF students, on the other hand.

To achieve this dual objective, the Language Voluntariate programme organizes its activities around two axes: the programme of visits and guided tours, including activities to let students get familiar with the territory, the language, the heritage, the culture or the folklore of Catalonia and other Catalan-speaking territories; and the conversation exchange programme, aimed at creating language pairs or tandems for the exchange of conversation between foreign and local students so the former can learn or improve their knowledge of Catalan (and/or Spanish) and the latter can learn other languages or practise them in an informal setting. All the activities within the UPF Language Voluntariate programme are also open to administration and services staff and teaching and research staff wishing to join them.

During the 2010-2011 academic year, the Language Volunteering programme has offered twenty-three tours and other activities both around the city of Barcelona and in the rest of Catalonia. In the first term we have done six tours in Barcelona (Gothic quarter, Park Güell, Montjuïc, History of Catalonia Museum, a literary walk about Catalan authors, and a tour on Christmas traditions) and three out of the city (Ripoll, Vic and Girona). In the second term we have organised four activities in Barcelona (gastronomic tour, Tibidabo, History of Catalonia Museum and a walk through cinematographic Barcelona) and three through the rest of Catalonia (Figueres and the Dali Museum, Sitges, and Manresa). The third term has also brought seven activities, among which two have taken place in Barcelona (literary tour on the occasion of Sant Jordi, and Picasso's Barcelona), while five were out of the city (Tarragona, Altafulla, Montserrat, the visit to the Castle of Montesquiu and to Borgonyà and the Nuria valley).

Language Tandem programme

During the 2010-2011 academic year 326 language tandems have been created: 193 in the first term, 91 in the second term and 42 in the third term. Most tandems are made up of students, but some administration and service staff members and lecturers also participate.

This year the most requested languages have been as follows: as far as exchange students are concerned, an average of 22.39% of the students who participate in the programme have applied for either Catalan or both Catalan and Spanish, while remaining 77.61% have applied to exchange only Spanish. As far as Catalan students are concerned, the most requested languages have been the following: English (which on average accounts for 60.43 % of applications, which means 198), French (51), German (41) and Italian (13), but also, to a greater or lesser degree, Chinese (6), Dutch (5), Japanese (4), Norwegian (2), Swedish (2), Finnish (1), Portuguese (1), Russian (1) and Korean (1).