TNP3 is anchored in a ten-year tradition of
European co-operation and development projects all driven
by the conviction that the promotion of multilingual communicative
competence and the maintenance of linguistic diversity are
of fundamental importance to European integration and to
life and work in the Union, and that higher education has
crucial responsibilities in this respect. TNP3 specifically
seeks to design and create structures for systematic consultation
and co-operation between universities and other stakeholders
(employers, graduates etc.) that will enable universities
regularly to update their programmes and offerings so as
to equip students with linguistic and language-related skills
and competences required in the language industry and on
the labour market in general, both of which are subject to
increasingly rapid changes. In addition, TNP3 seeks to place
HE language teaching/learning in the lifelong learning paradigm
by encouraging consultation and co-operation between universities
and other sectors of education.
Whereas previous thematic networks drew on existing research findings in their
endeavour to improve university programmes and teaching/learning methods, TNP3 will
go a step further by identifying new research requirements and designing new
research scenarios relevant to HE language studies.
In a separate development, TNP3 is going to map current provision in Arabic language
and culture with a view to developing recommendations for university programmes
for both specialists and non-specialists.
Wolfgang Mackiewicz
TNP3 Co-ordinator
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