In 2008, the rectors of public universities signed an agreement, within the framework of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (CIC), to require proficiency in Catalan from professors from other countries or other communities at the time of hiring. The pact lasted just a few days. The academic leaders saw that the measure could become a brake on the arrival of teaching and research talent in the process of opening Bologna and decided to go back and withdraw the imposition, proposing a margin (it depends on each university, it is different) to the new teachers to accredit mastery of the regional language. This more lax policy regarding linguistic requirements was made official in a Government decree (128/2010) that generally grants new teachers the possibility of accrediting Catalan within a maximum of two years, a period that most Universities have expanded according to their own interests. Twelve years later, within the framework of the National Plan for the Language, a ‘country agreement’ closed in 2022 by the regional government to boost the use of Catalan in all areas, the Catalan Reinforcement Plan in universities was closed, one more twist by the Government in its policy to ‘Catalanize’ the campuses, which proposes, on the horizon of 2025, to extend the use of Catalan to everyone the degrees supported with public funds and half of the master’s degrees. It also contemplates increasing the demand for Catalan for teachers and students. Related news standard Yes Professors at the Polytechnic of Catalonia rebel against the “dictatorship” of Catalan Esther Armora standard No The Catalan NGO “challenges the elimination of the linguistic requirement” of Valencian for Education inspectors José Luis FernándezSome universities such as the Polytechnic of Catalonia Catalonia (UPC) have gone one step further and, as ABC has been able to verify, they require level C of Catalan for research personnel who want to access a scholarship from the center to carry out the doctoral thesis. Some of them do not plan to stay in Catalonia to teach, but they must prove their knowledge of Catalan at the time of formalizing the aid so as not to be excluded. As this newspaper has been able to verify, among the requirements dictated by the UPC to be eligible for the FPU 2023 scholarship for University Teacher Training Grants, lasting four years and aimed at research personnel in the predoctoral stage, it appears as requirement number 7 « prove the proficiency level (C1) of Catalan “and not meeting that requirement has already been a reason for exclusion in several cases, according to an official document from the center consulted by this newspaper. 2023 call which includes the exclusion of applicants for scholarships for not having level C of Catalan UPCIn the 2024 call, Catalan has also been a reason for exclusion, as demonstrated by another document. However, in this latest call, the university adds that “exceptionally” the C level accreditation “may be presented until the start of the contract.” “Nothing changes, they still have to present it when they start, they don’t give them years of margin,” say UPC professors. The UPC is the only Catalan university that imposes a linguistic filter in access to aid. No public Catalan university, neither the one in Barcelona (UB), nor the Autonomous University (UAB), nor the Pompeu Fabra (UPF), nor the one in Lérida (UdL), nor the one in Gerona (UdG) requires Catalan from its applicants. predoctoral scholarships. “We do not require level C of Catalan to access doctoral theses, at least what refers to aid from the Ministry or the Generalitat,” the UAB tells this newspaper. In the rest of the universities supported by public funds the answer is the same. “There are no language requirements in our three-year predoctoral scholarships,” they point out from the UdG. The UB also denies this requirement: “We do not ask applicants for any knowledge of Catalan or Spanish.” The UPF and the UdL speak in the same sense. “Because they also teach.” From the UPC, when asked by this newspaper, they argue that they demand level C “because during the four years that the scholarship lasts, teaching is also given.” . They also add that “they offer teachers and researchers all kinds of help to learn the language such as free courses, etc…”. However, as this newspaper has been able to verify, in the rest of the public universities, despite the requirement to provide a minimum of credits during the time the aid lasts to complete the thesis, no center requires applicants to accredit the level. of Catalan. “It is absurd to ask for it because the destination of the aid is training, not teaching classes, and many of the scholarship recipients, when they finish their thesis, return to their countries or communities of origin,” Professor Juan Carlos Aguado of the UPC said in statements to ABC. In his opinion, the measure is like “shooting yourself in the foot” because “it stops the entry of teachers and students, in short, talent for the university.” The professor accuses the rector of applying linguistic filters in access to scholarships due to “political interests.” “It puts them ahead and makes them advance at the expense of the university,” denounces Aguado. Juan Antonio Gil, professor of Mathematics at the UPC and researcher at the ICCUB (Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB) agrees with Aguado in pointing out the consequences. negatives of the measure. «Universities compete at a national and international level to attract the best researchers, teachers and students. The diversity of origin and experience of the members of the university system enriches said system and promotes collaboration and the transmission of knowledge,” he says. In his opinion, «attracting talent is one of the fundamental objectives of any university that wants to position itself as a benchmark in research and training. For this reason, the linguistic impositions of Catalan universities to access a research grant, a teaching career or teaching in the majority of degrees, go against this objective.” “A purely political and ideological measure” “What “It is presented as a measure to promote and preserve the language,” adds Gil in relation to the Catalan requirement at the UPC. “In essence, it is a purely political and ideological measure. It is possible and compatible to maintain the promotion of Catalan without sacrificing academic competitiveness and the principle of equal opportunities. The language cannot be prioritized over academic merit (setting C1 of Catalan as a requirement to teach at the university or to access a doctoral scholarship may result in candidates with less academic merit, but who meet the linguistic requirement, are favored over other more qualified ones).” The professor recalls in this sense that “other universities in multilingual countries, such as Switzerland or the Netherlands, do not require mastery of local languages as a requirement for access to the academy, which makes them more attractive and accessible for researchers and international students.” From Universitaris per la Covivència (UpC), its spokesperson, the professor of Communication at the UAB, Isabel Fernández, expresses her stupefaction at the measure. . «It seems unprecedented to us that the UPC requires a C1 level of Catalan to apply for a research grant, especially when this is not even required to access a permanent teaching position at other universities in Catalonia. In fact, a margin of two years is usually given to acquire that level, which shows that it is not at all necessary to carry out full-time teaching tasks,” says Fernández. This newspaper has confirmed that in the rest of the public universities, these years of margin are granted to accredit knowledge of the language, by virtue of the decree approved by the Government in 2022. At the University of Lérida, this period of two years can even be extended if reasons are justified. «The deadline for accrediting knowledge of Catalan can be extended by one year and even more if it is conveniently justified. There is no limit on extensions, although professors usually end up accrediting it,” spokespersons for the Ilerdense university say in statements to ABC. At the UPC itself, four years are granted to lecturers and two to associate professors to accredit mastery of the regional language, according to sources from the center. “The main task of a research scholarship recipient is to complete a doctoral thesis that represents a significant advance in your field of knowledge. “I could do it in English and even teach classes in this language without yet having a high command of Catalan or Spanish,” adds the UpC spokesperson. In his opinion, «the setting of linguistic requirements must meet reasonable criteria based on the context. No to identity logic. In our universities there are professors who do not have the C1 level of Catalan and do have the maximum possible six-year research years and a more than solid teaching career and public projection. “In other words, you can have a more than respectable career in Catalonia without meeting that requirement, guaranteeing, of course, the right of students to express themselves in the official language in which they feel most comfortable,” concludes Fernández.From Vox, deputy Julia Calve t, denounces this new “linguistic imposition” in the university environment. “It demonstrates once again what we at Vox have been denouncing for years, that the impositions of Catalan at levels beyond any logic are causing an enormous loss of the academic level of our university and research system.” «In Catalan universities – adds Calvet – between an excellent doctoral student and a mediocre doctoral student, they choose the one who has an accredited level of Catalan and from Vox we are going to be supervising every last university resolution and we are going to present a proposed resolution to put an end to this linguistic dictatorship that is causing talent to not even consider coming to Catalonia.
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