From Blanquerna Faculty of Psychology and Educational and Sports Sciences-URL, we have always opted for including command of English as one of the competences defining the professional profiles of every one of our studies. Thus, we offer undergraduates training in their linguistic competence in their second year, equivalent to ECTS. This competence is included in the syllabuses of every degree course, with the aim of providing our students with more educational opportunities and better prospects of achievement. Students at our Faculty can also get –concurrently to their degree- the B2 English certificate issued by Oxford University, in accordance with the levels established by the Common European Framework of Reference for languages.
Students at our Faculty can improve their command of English starting from their real level and taking advantage of the different opportunities offered by the Faculty, by first doing a semester-long, compulsory 6-ECTS English module, implying 4 hours of tuition per week, which students have to enrol for in their second year; and also through other learning settings such as in some 3rd- or 4th-year modules, according to the degree, of subjects that use the CLIL method (Content and Language Integrated Learning), in their final degree project, or by seizing the opportunity to participate in international programmes. Moreover, the Faculty offers university extension courses in the different levels of English that students can do throughout their degree course whenever they like. These courses are given in the first and second terms in a midday timetable and also in the first two weeks of July in an intensive timetable.
Furthermore, students and teaching staff can also use the Self-Access Centre as an additional resource for all the aforementioned educational offer, and they can get the certificate for their level of linguistic competence through the CLUC –Language Certificate of Catalan Universities - tests and the Oxford Test of English, through an agreement signed between Blanquerna Foundation and Oxford University Press, which establishes our Faculty as an official examination centre for the test in the different levels of English.
This new educational proposal concerning English at the Faculty established for those undergraduates admitted in the academic year 2014-2015 (who will take the 2nd-year English module in the year 2015-2016) meets a current reality, which asks for a higher and higher command of English. And it is part of our educational model by still including English in the students’ curricular itinerary at university and by offering more time (yearly 6-ECTS modules with 3 hours a week of tuition) to acquire this competence.
Undergraduates in the Degree of Primary Education (English) and in the Degree of Applied Languages and Translation (English) have their own itinerary concerning their command of English.
