A consortium, comprising 5 Portuguese higher education institutions (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Universidade do Minho, Universidade de Aveiro) and Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da LÃngua I.P., will hold for the first time a distance learning Summer Course in Portuguese Language and Culture next July. The course is aimed at those candidates whose native language is not Portuguese. This course will be held in cooperation and in an innovative manner.
Known as a reference of training in Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) offered by Portuguese higher education institutions, the organisation of the traditional Summer Courses, whose concept is based on a strong interaction between language and culture, the course this year has suffered the impact of mobility limitations as a consequence of the pandemic.
This initiative of Camões, I.P, which now culminates with the signature of this protocol, has given rise to the opportunity for all the members of the consortium to cooperate in an innovative way in the joint organisation of the language training programmes offering tuition in the main levels of competence of the CEFR (A1 to C1) while maintaining the philosophy of the intensive summer courses, which have now have been redesigned from a face-to-face format into a digital format, comprising a synchronous and an asynchronous form of learning.
One of the innovative features is the result of the original structure of the course.
Each of the participating universities is responsible for developing and teaching one of the levels offered (A1 - C1) which will comprise a language component, made available on the platform of the same university, and a culture component, made available on the Camões I.P. portal; on this portal students will find a set of learning modules on themes related to Portuguese culture, from which trainees will select, from among those aimed at the level they are attending, those that will be an integral part of their learning path.
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The enrolment period is between 8 and 28 of June. Enrolments can be made on the page of the participating universities according to the level that the student wants to attend.
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The attendance and achievement certificate that students will receive at the end of the course will be issued by the institution in which the student completes their level. This certificate will bear the logo of all the institutions that are part of the consortium, being therefore a joint certification recognised by all of them. Such certificate also represents an innovation
The course is scheduled to start on 6 July. The four-week training is expected to have 20 to 30 hours of direct contact with students, organised in classes with a maximum limit of 15 students, and 40 to 60 hours of independent work.
The course has a common and single attendance fee equal to all levels. Students may apply for a Camões, I.P. scholarship between 9 and 24 of June, which, in this first edition, will ensure financial support for the running of one of the classes per level offered by the consortium. Information about these scholarships may be found here.
Thus, students who may not have the resources to travel to Portugal now have a digital offer, through distance learning, which will facilitate their learning of the Portuguese language at an intensive pace, framed by a set of cultural and dynamic activities that will boost the development of their language skills.
On the other hand, members of the consortium will be able to offer training, which will complement each institution’s independent own offer, while opening up the possibility of offering quality teaching, with a structure similar to that of the summer courses, to a greater number of potential students in the future within a broader geographical context.