USI Laboratory of Modern Languages

The Modern Languages Laboratory of Università della Svizzera italiana is now a member of SSH-CHES-CSUS, Association of Language Centres at Swiss Higher Education Institutions https://ssh-ches.ch/, and of CercleS, European confederation of Language centres in Higher education https://cercles.org/

Since 10 March 2023, the LLM Laboratory of Modern Languages at USI has been a member of SSH-CHES-CSUS and CercleS.

On Friday 20 and Saturday 21 October 2023, the LLM organised a two-day meeting of the SSH-CHES-CSUS at USI attended by the heads of 12 Swiss university language centres: Universität Basel, Universität Bern, Université de Fribourg, Haute école de gestion de Fribourg, Université de Genève, Université de Lausanne, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Hochschule Luzern, Université de Neuchâtel, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and the Haute École d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud.

We asked Susanne Stigen Pescia, Head of the Laboratory of Modern Languages at USI, what it means for USI.

Every semester, around 1,700 students enrol in the courses offered by the LLM, which shows USI's strong commitment to the teaching of Swiss official languages and English. In the context of the promotion of Swiss and European multilingual and multicultural policy, SSH-CHES-CSUS and CercleS are key players. Contact and collaboration with the language centres of Swiss and European universities is, therefore, a significant opportunity that USI has seized to make a concrete contribution to safeguarding the diversity and richness of its linguistic heritage.

What relevance does it have at the national level?

Multilingualism is a fundamental aspect of Swiss identity: consistently defending the role of Italianism is an essential task for Italian-speaking Switzerland. Becoming a member of the SSH-CHES-CSUS, as an entity that promotes dialogue between the various centres of linguistic competence, entails active participation in a network of knowledge and contacts that is widely established in the territory and in the national higher education scene. The SSH-CHES-CSUS is also part of the umbrella organisation swissuniversities https://www.swissuniversities.ch/it/

What does it entail?

Being a member of the SSH-CHES-CSUS implies participating in the dynamic process of language evolution through the observation, study and analysis of these continuous transformations. It also means participating in refresher courses on topics closely related to the language, launching language projects, cooperating with national and international institutions and carrying out joint projects at conferences and working groups.