Mission statement

Our role in university policy

In accordance with the language policy of the European Union and the Swiss tradition of practised multilingualism, we offer courses in a wide variety of languages, thereby supporting the development of multilingual competence. Thus, we contribute to internationalisation and mobility in education, research and professional life. In addition, competence in foreign languages represents an important transdisciplinary core competence for university graduates in diverse fields.

Our university-specific courses

Our courses, in their thematic orientation and depth of approach, are designed to meet the needs of our target learners (students, researchers and staff) and the requirements of an academic education. Our language instruction is demanding and characterized by a steep learning curve.

Our approach to teaching and learning

Our language instruction is based on principles of language pedagogy and on language learning research. We foster the development of metacognitve competence and thereby promote lifelong language learning. Our language instruction encourages learners to take responsibility for their own learning. At the same time, we regard language learning as a social process involving learning with and from each other. We also regard language learning as the learning of culture and behaviour, and therefore make deliberate use of opportunities for intercultural encounter and learning in our courses.

Mission statement German - French - Italian - English (PDF, 109 KB)