This year’s four-week school gathered thirty-four students from fourteen European and overseas countries (Australia, Austria, Bolivia, South Korea, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Canada, Hungary, New Zealand, Germany, Russia, the USA and Switzerland.
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 18th 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 thirty-four students from fourteen European and overseas countries (Australia, Austria, Bolivia, South Korea, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Canada, Hungary, New Zealand, Germany, Russia, the USA and Switzerland), demonstrating in numbers alone that this expert profile programme has been recognised among academic and other circles both in Croatia and abroad.
As in previous years the participants were distributed based on their prior proficiency in the language. The groups had symbolic names, this year related to Croatian inventions: Penkala, Zeppelin, Torpedo, Electricity, Cravat and Parachute. 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 – participants were particularly delighted with an evening tour of Zagreb titled The Secrets of Grič, a concert featuring the Klapa Nostalgia a cappella band and the Cinkuši band, a tour of the popular National Geographic exhibition on Croatia from the Air and a gala dinner. 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
