Celebration of the 55th anniversary of Dutch studies at the UB
On Tuesday 12th March, at 7 p.m., the Aula Magna of the Historic Building of the UB hosts the opening ceremony of the activities planned to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Dutch studies at this University. The personalities who participate in this event are: the vice-rector for Communication and Projection of the UB, Pere J. Quetglas; the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Spain, Cornelis van Rij; the representative of the Flemish Government in Spain, Yves Wantens; the vice-dean for International Relations and Research of the Faculty of Philology of the UB, Javier Velaza; the coordinator of the German Section of the UB, Loreto Vilar, and the lecturer of Dutch Language and Literature of the UB and coordinator of the celebration, Anne van Raemdonck. Marc le Clercq, senior project manager of the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie), will give, at 7.45 p.m., the lecture “De Nederlandse Taalunie”, about the Treaty concerning the Dutch Language Union.
On Tuesday 12th March, at 7 p.m., the Aula Magna of the Historic Building of the UB hosts the opening ceremony of the activities planned to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Dutch studies at this University. The personalities who participate in this event are: the vice-rector for Communication and Projection of the UB, Pere J. Quetglas; the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Spain, Cornelis van Rij; the representative of the Flemish Government in Spain, Yves Wantens; the vice-dean for International Relations and Research of the Faculty of Philology of the UB, Javier Velaza; the coordinator of the German Section of the UB, Loreto Vilar, and the lecturer of Dutch Language and Literature of the UB and coordinator of the celebration, Anne van Raemdonck. Marc le Clercq, senior project manager of the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie), will give, at 7.45 p.m., the lecture “De Nederlandse Taalunie”, about the Treaty concerning the Dutch Language Union.
According to the lecturer Anne van Raemdonck, this celebration, which offers several events and activities during March and April, aims at “promoting the Erasmus exchange programme between the UB and the universities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, Antwerp, Leuven and Ghent, and at fostering the contact between Dutch and Catalan literature, to compare both linguistic realities”. “We also aim —she adds— at increasing the number of studies and researches based on Dutch aspects carried out in several Dutch universities and the number of scholarships given mainly to South European students to attend to intensive language courses”. “We cannot forget —remarks Van Raemdonck— that Catalan university students are quite interested in the Netherlands and Belgium”.
Dutch studies were first offered at the UB in 1957, when Modern Languages Section was created, within the studies of Philosophy and Letters, and the journalist Theo Stols was the lecturer of Dutch Language and Literature. Dutch language was recognised and greatly promoted thanks to the curriculum approved in 1994 led by the then dean Pere J. Quetglas. This new curriculum offered new possibilities to combine Dutch studies with any other language studied at the Faculty. Dutch was an optional subject not only for German students, but also for any student at the Faculty. In the nineties, Erasmus exchange programme was set up and the demand for Dutch lessons at the UB was greatly increased.
In 2009, when new degrees were implemented, the degree in German disappeared and Dutch was no longer academically linked with this degree and began to be part of the new degree in Modern Language and Literature. Although current curriculum is composed by only three subjects of Dutch language and one subject of Dutch Cultures (6 ECTS each subject), an intermediate level (B1) is generally achieved by students who normally have previous knowledge of English or German.
The UB offers also the possibility to study Dutch at the School of Modern Languages (EIM). Recently, it opened its new central office in the Jeroni Granell Building (582, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes) in Barcelona.