FOCUS/ LEARNING FOR LIFE
“Intonation, pronunciation, grammar... We practice everything. That’s very good,” stresses medical practitioner Ahmed Aledl.
DEVELOPING A COURSE close to
what is acceptable under Sweden’s Higher Education Ordinance has meant a great deal of work. The 29 students started in January. Even if most of them had managed to learn quite a bit of Swedish when first arriving as refugees, the new course in Swedish for academics really has no admission requirement as regards knowledge of languages.
“STUDENTS STUDY for four hours,
four days a week,” states Carina Carlund. “The course is demanding and has lots of lessons. Really, it’s a question of full-time study. Nonetheless, as the students are academics, they’re used to a hectic pace.” There is also a study counsellor linked to the course. “The final semester is run in collaboration with departments matching the students’ previous
12 GUJOURNAL MAY 2017I
specialisations. This means, for example, that medical personnel can familiarise themselves with Swedish terminology in this field. They also get support as regards how they need to widen their vocabularies.” BECAUSE CARINA Carlund believes that language learning has to take its time, she avoids the term “fast track”. Nevertheless, the idea is that this relatively short course should give upper-secondary level competence in Swedish. “One dream is to be able to offer these students a complete preparatory package, with both Swedish and English. They could then be directed onwards to ‘Foreign teachers’ further education’ (ULV) or other study courses and programmes. However, we haven’t got that far yet. Still, simply being in an academic environment, having the
opportunity to meet other students and knowing that you are on the way to a goal is beneficial for these people. They would otherwise have a precarious existence.” When the previous course for foreign students was axed in 2015, the University of Gothenburg lost the right to give the Test in Swedish for University Studies (Tisus). Passing this test is a precondition of entry to university studies. “We have contacted the Tisus group and announced that we would like to be certified again. Regardless of how this goes, students who pass our final test will still have university level competence in Swedish. FOUR TEACHERS ARE working on the course: Kerstin Larsson Tannerud, Clara Palm, Emma Carlfjord and Britt Klintberg. “Most students come from Syria,