Translation and Interpretation courses at UVic-UCC are thirty years old

 Vic University Studies launched the first year of its degree course in Translation and Interpretation in the 1993-1994 academic year. This course gave its name to the new Faculty of Translation and Interpretation, located in the Palau Bojons building, in the city's historic centre. It would be another four years before the University of Vic received full recognition from the Parliament of Catalonia.

Since then, 1,249 students have graduated from its classrooms, with 1,092 graduating from the licentiate degree course, which later became a bachelor's degree, and 157 from the master's degree in Specialised Translation, which began in the 2008-2009 academic year.

The ceremony to mark this thirtieth anniversary will take place in the Segimon Serrallonga Hall on the UVic Campus of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) on 28 June, at a morning event that will provide a forum for past and present students and teaching staff, to talk about the past, present and future of the profession.  

Pioneers in blended learning and online teaching

The courses in Translation and Interpretation have undergone various changes, and have been at the forefront of the renewal of teaching methodologies at UVic-UCC. Initially a licentiate degree course, it was the first time that Vic University Studies had added a long cycle discipline, lasting five years, to its range of courses. It was also the first time in Catalonia that these courses were taught anywhere other than the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where they had traditionally always been studied. Thanks to the impact of technological innovations in the fields of communication and information, the last two academic years in the degree course began to be taught in a blended learning format in the 2001-2002 academic year, and the updated master's degree in Specialised Translation was subsequently launched in a 100% online format. 

With the implementation of the Bologna Plan, the first year of the bachelor's degree in Translation began in September 2008, and it gradually replaced the licentiate degree course, and began to be taught in both face-to-face and online formats from the first to fourth year.

Two years later, the Faculty of Translation merged with the Faculty of Education to create the Faculty of Education, Translation and Humanities, where the inter-university bachelor's degree in its current form was launched, with the University Oberta de Catalunya, which enabled the two universities to jointly teach the bachelor's degree course in Translation, Interpretation and Applied Languages (TILA). UVic-UCC teaches approximately two-thirds of the courses, all of which are on translation and interpretation, foreign languages and Spanish.

According to Maria Perramon, the coordinator of the bachelor's degree course, "combining our experience in translation and interpretation with all the experience in online teaching we brought from both universities has led to very positive results. As a result, today it is one of the bachelor's degree programmes that is most highly rated by students in surveys." 

The initiative and the effort to adapt teaching methodologies led to these courses receiving the Jaume Vicens Vives prize for excellence in university teaching from the Government of Catalonia in 2008. This award was recognition for the teaching staff's efforts in improvement and teaching innovation in the humanities.

A robust research network based around Translation and Interpretation studies was established from the very beginning, with the creation of four consolidated research groups with significant levels of scientific and conference production, and which lead national and international projects.  The call for the Andreu Febrer Translation Prize, which is being awarded for the twenty-eighth time this year, and the Vic Translation Conference, which is being held for the twentieth year, are among its distinctive features.
After 30 years, Maria Perramon believes that "today, Translation and Interpretation studies retain the same spirit when faced with the new challenges posed by today's society:  on the one hand, expertise in using all the digital resources available, including artificial intelligence, and on the other, training specialists who are able to combine meanings to new contexts and enable communication between human beings."

The future of the profession - a subject for debate

The event commemorating this thirtieth anniversary will consist of a talk by the translator Scheherezade Surià, a specialist in literary and audiovisual translation, who will talk on the subject of "Undertaking a translation career in these challenging times", followed by the round table discussion "Translation: a profession of the future", with Nora Aramberri Monasterio, Maria González-Davies and Marta Cabanillas Resino.

The winners of the XVIII Andreu Febrer Translation Prize will be announced during the event, while the inauguration is scheduled for 10.00 am, with the rector of the UVic-UCC, Josep Eladi Baños; the deputy mayor of Vic City Council, Elisabet Piella, and the dean of the Faculty of Education, Translation, Sports and Psychology, Eduard Ramírez.