This year’s school gathered twenty-five students from nine European and overseas countries and four scholarship students from the University of Toronto (Canada), the University of Udine (Italy), the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile) and the Szechenyi Istvan University (Hungary).
This year’s four-week University School of Croatian Language & Culture, organised by the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the University of Zagreb, closed with the formal diploma ceremony at the Rectorate of the University of Zagreb on the 22nd of July.
The school is targeted to young people of Croatian extraction and all other students who wish to learn about Croatia, acquire or broaden their knowledge of our country and learn or perfect their Croatian.
This year’s University School of Croatian Language & Culture gathered twenty-five students from nine European and overseas countries (Australia, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, the United States of America, Hungary, Italy and Germany), demonstrating in numbers alone that this expert profile programme has been recognised among academic and other circles both in Croatia and abroad. The school was also attended by four scholarship students from the University of Toronto (Canada), the University of Udine (Italy), the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile) and the Szechenyi Istvan University (Hungary).
As in previous years the participants were distributed based on their prior proficiency in the language. The groups had symbolic names, this year based on four words used in Croatia to name the ladle: Kaciola, Paljak, Šeflja and Grabljača. The academic programme covered 110 class hours: 95 hours of compulsory classes and 15 hours of additional classes. Language instruction consisted of separate grammar and reading classes.
Along with the academic language programme the students also participated in a culture programme. The segment opened with insight into the Croatian identity and its promotion, followed by lectures on Croatian history, one of which, about the Homeland War, was held at the Croatian History Museum. Evenings saw various culture events, including a visit to the Croatian National Theatre to watch the opera Ero the Joker, the Secrets of Grič night tour of Zagreb, a performance by the Ladarice group and the orchestra of the Lado ensemble and a gala evening at the Matis café at the Croatian Heritage Foundation headquarters. Besides the programme events in Zagreb, students also took part in a study trip to the Hrvatsko Zagorje region and the Plitvice Lakes.
Text by: Lada Kanajet Šimić
