“Very complete and very well structured. Ten out of ten. We will continue to study Catalan”; “Thank you very much, I thought it was a great introductory course. A good experience”, and “I have really enjoyed the story and I hope to continue with a more advanced edition”. These are some of the comments (in different languages) that students enrolled on the online course “Catalan for Beginners: a Day with Ella” have left on the MiríadaX platform, which hosts it.

It is a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) produced by Pompeu Fabra University, which is currently in its third edition, all of them on offer within the 2022-2023 academic year. Altogether they have more than 425 students enrolled. This is a provisional and rising figure, since it is possible to enrol up until the end of July.

The course lasts fifteen hours, it is virtual, free and open to all, and is a pioneering initiative within the Catalan university system and the Vives Network of Universities

The course, which is part of the Action Plan for 2022-2023 regarding the use of Catalan at UPF, is fifteen hours long, virtual, free and open to all, and is a pioneering initiative within the Catalan university system and the Vives Network of Universities: it is based on a nine-part fictional series, “A Day with Ella”, which allows students to immerse themselves in the city of Barcelona through an exchange student from the US who arrives in Catalonia to study at UPF. The course, through Ella, introduces initial level notions of Catalan (which cover some of the contents of level A1 of the CEFR), with the aim of offering basic lexical and grammar resources to be able to start communicating in Catalan in some everyday situations.

A MOOC produced by UPF, with very diverse student profiles

The course, produced by Languages UPF, the team of La Factoria and the University’s Center for Learning Innovation and Knowledge (CLIK), is tutored by Languages UPF Catalan teachers and is funded by Interlingua, grants provided by the Catalan Government for actions to promote and use languages in the university environment.

It especially targets international students who will be joining the University soon, but also at anyone who is interested in Catalan language and culture

It especially targets international students who will be joining the University soon, but also at anyone who is interested in Catalan language and culture: “The profile of the students is very varied: international students who will be coming to UPF and wish to learn a little about the Catalan language and culture before their arrival, but also students who are heading to any other Catalan university and who want to learn a little beforehand”, says María Naranjo, director of Languages UPF.

UPF, which plans to offer new editions of “Catalan for Beginners” for the next academic year (for the first, second and third terms), is already considering a level A1 continuation MOOC, starting in January 2024, with the same University production team and with Interlingua 2024 funding.

A firm commitment to Catalan language and culture

Marcel Mauri, UPF commissioner for Language Policy and professor with the Department of Communication, highlights the qualitative leap and the commitment that the University has made this year to this course. In this regard, it has promoted its dissemination, especially to incoming students of the Erasmus programme, students from abroad taking all UPF master’s degrees, and more selectively, also to members of the teaching staff.

Marcel Mauri: “In general, foreign students and teachers who come to the University are quite aware that Catalonia has its own culture and language”

Mauri explains that this introductory course allows students to have a basic command of Catalan when they arrive at UPF. Then, in a second stage, many of them continue their training with the “Catalan Landing Program”, a programme of face-to-face reception courses (of Catalan language and culture) that Languages UPF has been giving for years, and was initially promoted by the Pompeu Fabra Chair. “In general, foreign students and teachers who come to the University are quite aware that Catalonia has its own culture and language. These people are sensitive to these issues, and they experience it as being enriching, and in no way as an impediment”, he assures.

Growing interest in learning Catalan

The commissioner for Language Policy highlights the interest that this 2022-2023 academic year has had for training in the Catalan language at UPF, with regard to international students and teachers: “When you offer more courses, teachers, infrastructures, dissemination and facilities to learn Catalan, the response by foreign students and teachers is most positive. This shows that, when you offer the necessary resources, people respond”, he reflects.

Meanwhile, the Plan to strengthen the Catalan language in the university and research system of Catalonia (PEC), published by the Catalan Government in July 2022, calls for resources so that international students can learn Catalan before their arrival at a Catalan university: “Since our MOOC is the only course with these characteristics, the other universities also offer it to their future international students”, María Naranjo affirms. In this sense, the course has been disseminated via the INTERCAT portal, which hosts all the resources and tools available from Catalan universities to learn Catalan.

So, and as a result of these guidelines, Pompeu Fabra University, with the support of Languages UPF, doubled its commitment to promoting its community’s training and accreditation in Catalan. As a result, it has gone from having 578 students of Catalan last academic year to 1,383 in 2022-2023, which is a historical record and an increase of 139.27%.

UPF has gone from having 578 students of Catalan last academic year to 1,383 in 2022-2023, which is a historical record and an increase of 139.27%.

The “Catalan for Beginners” MOOC has contributed to this success, but also the fact that the availability of face-to-face Catalan courses aimed at international exchange students, students from the rest of Spain and foreign undergraduate students has been enhanced: this year these subsidized level A1 to level C1.1 courses have registered a total of 354 participants, an increase in this type of training in Catalan of 21.23% compared to the previous year. “UPF has always had the desire to promote Catalan language and culture, as a fundamental axis of the institution, at the centre of the life of the university community”, Marcel Mauri concludes.