St Mary's is buzzing to the sounds of Slavic, Romance and Germanic languages this week as university teachers from five European universities meet to explore ways of overcoming the language barriers that hinder student and teacher mobility. The twenty-strong group from Instituto Politecnico de Portalegre (Portugal), Wyzsza Scola Humanistyczno-Economiczna w Lodz (Poland), Univerzita v Ostrave (Czech Republic)and Universitatea de Nord Baia Mare (Romania) has gathered for the first full meeting of the TEAM project.
The TEAM (Teaching in Advanced Multinational Environments) project objective is the production of a set of modules to develop in students a sense of Europe and Europeanness, a context within which to place modules on their national language, culture and society. Some of these are to be taught to multinational groups of exchange students through a common language, English. Others will be taught partly in the national language of the partner university so as to allow a richer cultural exchange. In turn, this will serve to increase familiarity with less widely known European languages, cultures and traditions. A complementary project, funded by Lingua, is planned for St Mary's in October 2006 to provide language support for TEAM lecturers.
The TEAM project is one example of the close partnership that St Mary's has developed since 1992 with a wide range of universities and colleges across Europe. One of the most fruitful collaborations has been led by Carlos Afonso of the Instituto Politecnico de Portalegre, Portugal. Our two institutions are now lead partners in TEAM. This prestigious European project is coordinated at St Mary's by Margaret Keane of the Geography Department and Madeleine Lombard from the English Department. Further information is available from Margaret Keane.