INTER-INSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGE COURSES

INTENSIVE COURSES
SUMMER 2007

1. LANGUAGES AND LEVELS
2. DATES AND DURATION OF THE COURSES
3. CRITERIA WHICH DETERMINE THE ORGANISATION OF A COURSE
4. ROOMS
5. ADMISSION CRITERIA
6. PRIORITIES
7. PROCEDURE FOR ENROLMENT
8. INVITATIONS
9. ABSENCES
10. END OF COURSE RESULTS
11. LEVEL TESTS
    SECRETARIAT OF THE INTER-INSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGE COURSES

The Training Services of the European Institutions in Brussels jointly organise summer intensive courses. This will enable participants to complete a level in three weeks.

The aim is to enable participants to acquire the language skills which are necessary to carry out their daily work and to express themselves in everyday situations (= standard courses).

The courses will be organised provided that there are sufficient resources and sufficient participants.

Priority will be given to the most requested languages.
 

1. LANGUAGES AND LEVELS
   
   Only languages of the European Union Member-States :
    
   • BG (Bulgarian), CS (Czech), DA (Danish), DE (German), EL (Greek), EN (English), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), FI (Finnish), FR (French), GA (Irish), HU (Hungarian), IT (Italian), LT (Lithuanian), LV (Latvian), MT* (Maltese), NL (Dutch), PL (Polish), PT (Portuguese), RO (Rumanian), SK (Slovak), SL (Slovenian), SV (Swedish) :
      
   • Levels : 1 to 6
      
   * Maltese will be organised if a teacher is available.
    
2. DATES AND DURATION OF THE COURSES
   
   Two sessions will be organised :

3. CRITERIA WHICH DETERMINE THE ORGANISATION OF A COURSE
   
   The elements determining the decision on whether to organise a course or not are as follows:
    
   1. Available financial resources ;
       
   2. The number of places available (limited number of courses according to the available budget and availability of training rooms) ;
       
   3. A sufficient number of participants (minimum 8 applications: “article 45.2”⁽¹⁾ and/or “in the interest of the service”).

4. ROOMS
   
   The Brussels summer intensive language courses will take place in the Commission buildings (GUIMARD: rue Guimard 10 - 1040 Brussels; SCIENCE 29: rue de la Science 29 - 1040 Brussels) and in the European Parliament building (MONTOYER 63: rue Montoyer 63 – 1040 Brussels). A few courses could take place in the buildings of the Council of the European Union (ORBAN: square Frère Orban 10 – 1040 Brussels) and of the Committee of the Regions/European Economic and Social Committee (rue de Trèves 74 – 1040 Brussels) and in the premises of the service providers (in Brussels).
    
5. ADMISSION CRITERIA
   
   Applicants must :
    
   • be either an official, a temporary, auxiliary, contract or local agent or a seconded national expert (SNE) at the closing date for applications and during the course ;
      
   • never have participated in an advanced or task based course in the language requested (or not have been assessed as being of a higher level than level 6 in the level test). Changes of levels will not be accepted on the basis that advanced courses will not be organised. Applications for advanced levels (beyond 6) will be rejected.

   Applications will not be accepted from:
    

   • persons who, at the closing date for applications and at the start of the course, are interim personnel (“intérimaire”), service providers (“prestataire”), trainees, consultants, staff in pension or in receipt of an invalidity pension or on leave on personal grounds or on sick leave. Staff working part-time can attend a course only during their working hours (time spent training is considered equivalent to work time).

   If there are places available, staff members concerned by article 45.2 of the Staff Regulations may enrol in a language course (all E.U. languages) until one week before the beginning of the course session.
   
   If there are places available, newcomers and staff returning to Headquarters may enrol in an English, German or French course until two weeks before the beginning of the course session, if they did not take part in a course under another status (SNE, auxiliary agent, etc.). The request made in the interest of the service has to be entered within the first 3 months of the recruitment or return to Headquarters.
   
   Reminder :
    

   • Each student may only apply for one single course, choosing only one period.
      
   • Spouses and former officials are not allowed to participate in these courses, as they are mainly aimed for the specific needs of the DGs and to give access to language training for statutory members of staff who cannot attend such courses during the academic year and/or to accelerate the completion of the cycle.
      
6. PRIORITIES
   
   Taking the above into account, it is evident that all applications cannot be satisfied and so the following priorities will be applied (in order) :
    
   • 1st priority: requests made in the context of article 45.2, of the Staff Regulations in force as from 1st May 2004.
      
   • 2nd priority: applications in the interest of the service for those who are not already enrolled in a standard twice-weekly course.
      
   • 3rd priority: applications in the interest of the service for those who are already enrolled in a standard twice-weekly course.
      
   • 4th priority: applications in the interest of the individual for those who are not already enrolled in a standard twice-weekly course.
      
   • 5th priority: applications in the interest of the individual for those who are already enrolled in a standard twice-weekly course.
      
7. PROCEDURE FOR ENROLMENT
   
   All applications for an intensive course must be on the basis of a separate application even if the applicant is already attending a standard twice-weekly course. The application must be signed by the Head of Unit and by the Training Coordinator of the DG or the Service concerned within the deadline.
    
   All applications must be made only via SYSLOG.
   The DG ADMIN will deal with your application only AFTER the electronic validation done by the Training Coordinator of your DG/Service (list of Training Coordinators is at).
   
   You will not be allowed to change language once the training coordinator of your DG/Service has validated your request electronically.
   
    

   Please note that late requests will always be refused. Please make sure that your line manager has signed your request in time.

   Note : persons concerned by article 45.2 and newcomers, please see point V.
   FIf the participant passes the examination at the end of the intensive course :
    

   • Those who are not enrolled in a standard twice-weekly course and wish to continue classes in that language must submit a new application for the next session of standard twice-weekly courses in Syslog (please refer to the administrative notice of the September 2007/February 2008 session, to be published in February 2007).
      
   • Those who are already attending a standard twice-weekly course will be automatically enrolled at the next level when the courses restart (except for advanced courses where a new application is needed).

8. INVITATIONS
   
   Information on the status of your request can be viewed by clicking the “My training”, “My current applications” or “My closed applications” buttons in Syslog Web Formation.
   
   Nevertherless, you will be personally informed by e-mail of the outcome of your application by 23 May 2007 at the latest.
   
   Please note : for the persons who are already attending a standard twice-weekly course on a regular basis, the invitation to the 2007 summer intensive course will be sent at the beginning of July 2007 (after the end of the standard twice-weekly course). Also, the invitation to the September 2007/February 2008 session of the standard twice-weekly courses (which start at mid-September 2007) will be sent at the beginning of September 2007 (after the end of the 2007 summer intensive course). This is because we must know the end of course results before we can place those following standard twice-weekly courses in the right level.
   
   Because of the limited human resources available in our team, no information can be sent out to you before these dates. Please do not contact us by phone or by e-mail before these dates.
    
9. ABSENCES
   
   It is important to note that the learning of any language means regular attendance at all courses. Repeated absences inevitably slow down the learning pace of the individual and the whole group and risk compromising the training objectives. A similar problem is posed by chronic latecomers to courses or by early departures: which is why arriving more than 30 minutes late to your class or leaving 30 minutes before the end of the class is considered as non-attendance.
   
   The language training secretariat needs to ensure that all the following rules are strictly respected by the participants :
   
   Participants who throughout a course accumulate 3 sessions of absences regardless of the reason for the absences will be excluded from the course and will not be allowed to sit the final test.
   
   NB: presence is requested until the end of the course, this includes days following the course exam. Absences will then be counted until the last course hour and exclusion rules will be strictly applied (attention : it means that the exam results will be cancelled if there is a total absence of 3 sessions, even if it is the last lesson).
   
   Appeal procedure
   
   In exceptional cases, an appeal procedure can be launched in order to avoid being excluded from the course or to be reinstated in the course, as follows :
    
   • A note from the participant’s line manager to the Head of Section of Language Training certifying that participation in the course is in the interest of the service or in the context of article 45.2 of the Staff Regulations. The line manager must commit him(her)self to allow the participant to take part regularly in the course.
      
   • A written declaration from the teacher stating that the participant is capable of continuing and successfully completing the course without slowing down the progress of the class as a whole.
      
   • Commitment from the participant to take part in all remaining classes and to review the material covered during his or her absence.

   Please note that the appeal procedure can only be taken into consideration if introduced by 31 August 2007 at the latest.
    

10. END OF COURSE RESULTS
    
    At the end of each session, a final mark is given to each participant who has been present on a regular basis and who has not been excluded from the course.
    
    The final mark corresponds to the average of the mark from the obligatory final test and the mark resulting from continuous assessment of work and participation during the whole session.
    
    The final mark is communicated by the teacher in the final lesson. Please note: the pass mark is 60 %.
    
    A certificate is sent to participants who have succeeded in the course (minimum 60 %) at the end of the levels 4 and 5 (only if it concerns a certificate to meet the requirements of the art. 45.2 of the Staff Regulations) and of the level 6 of the standard courses.
    
    The results of all language tests are final.
     
11. LEVEL TESTS
    
    For people whose level in the language requested is not known, level tests will be organised from 16 to 20 April 2007, from 23 to 27 April 2007 and from 02 to 04 May 2007. An invitation for the test will be sent on 10 April 2007.
    
    The result of the level test is not directly communicated by course managers to the candidates. Information on the status of your request – including the level defined during the level test - can be viewed by clicking the “My training”, “My current applications” or “My closed applications” buttons in Syslog Web Formation.
    
    Please note: persons who enter a request for a level test must not enter a 2nd request for a course. The request made for the level test will be modified according to the test results and used for the enrolment in a course.

SECRETARIAT OF THE INTER-INSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGE COURSES

UNIT ADMIN.A.3
Language training sector

Address : rue Guimard, 10
Administrative address : GUIM 1/51

Head of Unit : Norman JARDINE, GUIM 3/56, tel. : 92852
Head of Section : Päivi ÖHMAN, GUIM 1/56, tel. : 21210
Assistant of the Section: Valérie DE KONINCK, GUIM 1/42, tel.: 58654
Secretariat : Stéphanie CLOUET, GUIM 1/51, tel. : 51160

List of course managers (on 1st February 2007)
(enquiries by phone or in person may be made between 10 and 12 a.m.)

_____________________
FOOTNOTES

⁽¹⁾ Article 45.2 of the Staff Regulations in force as from 1st May 2004: Officials shall be required to demonstrate before their first promotion after recruitment the ability to work in a third language among those referred to in Article 314 of the EC Treaty. This requirement is set at level 6 of inter-institutional language training, which is in accordance with level B.2 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). During a transitional period until 31 December 2008, the requirement is set at level 4 of inter-institutional language training, which is in accordance with level A.2 of the CEF, but with an obligation to follow the training until level 6 is reached.