The willingness to strengthen cooperation with Italian scientific and cultural institutions with the support of the Italian Embassy in Warsaw was discussed during a meeting with the Italian Ambassador to Poland, Luca Franchetti Pardo.
On Thursday, July 18, the University of Gdańsk hosted a meeting with the Italian Ambassador to Poland, Luca Franchetti Pardo, during which the Rector of the University of Gdańsk, prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski, presented the existing cooperation with Italian scientific and cultural institutions in various fields of science. Possible areas for scientific and cultural exchange within the UG were also suggested. Ambassador Luca Franchetti Pardo emphasised that this was his first visit to a scientific centre outside Warsaw and Krakow and pointed out the great potential of the University of Gdańsk and Tricity itself.
The meeting was attended by the Italian Ambassador to Poland, Luca Franchetti Pardo, the Second Secretary and Head of the Economic and Commercial Office at the Italian Embassy in Poland, German Carboni , and the Honorary Consul of Italy in Gdynia, Maurycy Chodorowski. The University of Gdańsk was represented by the Rector of UG prof. Piotr Stepnowski, the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation dr hab. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler, prof. UG, the Director of the Institute of Applied Linguistics dr hab. Hadrian Lankiewicz, prof. UG, and the Italian language teacher at the Faculty of Languages mgr Izabela Mai.
Dr hab. Hadrian Lankiewicz, prof. UG, the Director of IAL, presented the new study concept, which includes the launch of a specialisation in English with Italian. Italian will become the language of instruction after the first year of intensive study (subjects in linguistics will be taught, as well as subjects such as Italian culture and literature and other components related to translation training). It has been pointed out that, despite the presence of Italian in the pool of languages taught at UG and the fact that there is a very popular three-semester Postgraduate Italian Studies programme, the studies proposed by IAL will be the first to give a specific professional qualification, precisely in Italian in applied linguistics. Graduates of this specialisation will be able to communicate and translate oral and written texts in the English-Italian-German language triad.
This concept of education met with the approval of the Ambassador, who emphasised that Italian is not only a beautiful language for those passionate about Italian culture, but is above all a language that is useful in various areas of society. The Director of IAL declared his readiness to strengthen cooperation with Italian scientific and cultural institutions with the support of the Italian Embassy in Warsaw, for example in the field of staff and student exchanges and the organisation of internships and study stays. IAL is also keen to benefit from occasional lectures offered by Embassy staff.
‘The Institute of Applied Linguistics would be happy to act as a hub and coordinator of potential activities for the promotion of Italian science and culture at our university and in the region. The required reorganisation of the master's degree concept at IAL will provide an additional impetus to strengthen the position of the Italian language in the offer of studies at UG,’ says Director of the Institute of Applied Linguistics Dr hab. Hadrian Lankiewicz, prof. UG. ‘The considered concept of training linguistic and cultural mediators for business and European institutions fits perfectly into the vision of cooperation outlined by the Ambassador,’ he adds.
