The Croatian Heritage Foundation and the University of Zagreb will open their now traditional University School of Croatian Language and Culture on the 30th of June. The 2018 reincarnation of the school will run through to the 27th of July.
The official opening ceremony will be staged at the rectorate of the University of Zagreb on the 2nd of July at nine o’clock in the morning. On hand at that event to greet the students will be University of Zagreb rector Damir Boras, Croatian Heritage Foundation director Mijo Marić, and the school director Zrinka Jelaska.
The university school will this year gather twenty-seven participants from sixteen European and overseas countries (Austria, Slovenia, France, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovakia, Great Britain, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Australia).
As in previous years students on scholarships will also attend the school from partner universities. This year ten scholarship students will attend from the University of Graz in Austria, the University of Vienna in Austria, the University of Glasgow in Scotland, the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, the University of Rosario in Argentina, the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the Filip Kaušić Institute of Austria.
The school is targeted to young people of Croatian extraction and all other students who wish to discover Croatia, acquire or broaden their knowledge of Croatia and to learn or perfect their ability to speak and understand the Croatian language.
The academic programme covers 120 classroom sessions consisting of 105 sessions of mandatory instruction and fifteen hours of additional instruction (a classroom session lasts 45 minutes). Language instruction consists of separate lessons in grammar and lectures. Croatian language proficiency is graded at three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Classroom sessions are staged in the lecture rooms of the University of Zagreb’s office for international cooperation at No 8 Ulica kralja Zvonimira.
The Croatian culture segment is an integral part of the school programme and is organised by the Croatian Heritage Foundation. This segment includes academic and in-the-field lectures on Croatian culture and history, expert guided visits to museums, galleries, art exhibitions, stage plays, concerts, culture and research institutions, and the always well-received study visits to the Hrvatsko Zagorje region and the Plitvice Lakes.
Participants who pass the examinations will receive a diploma of the University of Zagreb, a certificate with their grades and confirmation of 8 ECTS credit points.
By: Lada Kanajet Šimić