The UB hosts the Vives Forum on University Language Policy to address the emergency of Catalan language

The meeting follows on from the forum held in 2021 at the University of Valencia, which shared diagnoses and moved towards greater coordination of university language policies. Five years later, the universities aim to assess the extent to which the objectives set in 2021 have been met and to redefine strategic priorities towards 2030, in a sociolinguistic context marked by the decline in the social use of Catalan and by new dynamics of language substitution.

The opening session will take place on Monday, 16 March at 9.30 a.m. with speeches by Miquel Soriano, Director General for Universities at the Government of Catalonia; Francesc Xavier Vila, Minister of Language Policy at the Government of Catalonia; and Joan Guàrdia, Rector of the University of Barcelona and fourth Vice-President of the Vives Network of Universities.

The sessions of the first day will focus on the role of universities as drivers of language policy. They will address the institutional responsibility of governing bodies and language services to reverse the marginalization of Catalan, as well as strategies for influencing the linguistic attitudes of the university community. The current legal framework will also be analysed — including the Organic Law on the University System (LOSU), university statutes and language standardization plans — to identify opportunities and limitations in the implementation of language policies.

The programme also includes a module dedicated to the indicators and information systems needed to assess the real impact of university language policies and a session focused on renewing language promotion strategies, with the aim of adapting them to new social realities and providing them with adequate resources and professional profiles.