The EMERGE European University Alliance has launched its new Language Tandems initiative, designed to strengthen plurilingual exchange and intercultural dialogue across the Alliance.
This initiative is part of EMERGE’s wider commitment to promoting plurilingualism and intercultural understanding. Through its work on Language and Culture, the Alliance aims to ensure that language differences do not hinder collaboration, mobility or participation in joint activities, but rather facilitate connections and encourage cross-border exchange.
A complementary language-learning initiative
Language Tandems bring together students and staff from different EMERGE partner universities who wish to practice languages with each other through informal conversation and mutual learning. Participants are paired based on their language interests and communicate regularly online, creating opportunities to improve language skills while building connections across campuses.
The Language Tandems activity complements the other language-learning initiatives currently underway within EMERGE, namely the English online course aimed at strengthening communication skills for EMERGE staff and facilitating work across diverse professional environments across the Alliance. These initiatives help build confidence in everyday interactions, such as meetings, collaborative projects and written communication.
Pilot phase before Alliance-wide roll-out
Currently, the Language Tandems programme is being implemented as a pilot phase. Registration is therefore limited to a smaller number of participants across the partner universities. This initial phase enables the Alliance to trial the programme’s structure and refine the format before rolling out the initiative more widely.
This pilot will provide valuable insights into how language exchange can best support collaboration between EMERGE campuses. Feedback from participants will inform the future development of the initiative, ensuring that it effectively meets the needs of students and staff.
If the pilot phase is successful, the Language Tandems initiative is expected to open up to a broader community across the Alliance in the coming months, offering more members of the EMERGE community the chance to take part in multilingual exchange and intercultural learning.
By encouraging informal language practice and peer-to-peer interaction, the programme reflects EMERGE’s wider ambition to strengthen connections between its campuses while promoting cultural and linguistic diversity across Europe.
Nathalie Dedessus-Le-Moustier (UBS) – offered language : French ; targeted language : English
and Evangelia Kostenidou (DUTH) – offered language : English targeted language : French