OPEN EYE - September 2000
VC's Column
The Summer School Experience
Santiago de Compostela – how nicely the name trips off the tongue – is one of my favourite cities. In medieval times up to a million pilgrims came annually from all over Europe to this city in Galicia to venerate the tomb of St James. Today the camino, the pilgrim way that leads to Santiago from the Pyrenees across northern Spain, still carries a steady stream of walkers, cyclists and motorists. Some years ago my wife and I drove the route during Holy Week. Although a car traveller feels humbled by those who take weeks to walk the camino, arriving in Santiago de Compostela still gives a thrilling sense of achievement.
Thus I was delighted when the OU chose the University of Santiago for its first Spanish summer school. Summer schools, an important component of many OU programmes, are particularly vital for language learning. The Open University came late to modern languages. In the 1970’s UK universities taught literature and assumed students would already be fluent in the language concerned – an inappropriate assumption for the OU since it did not require academic pre-requisites for undergraduate entry. However, as other universities developed the teaching of languages it seemed right for the OU to take a lead, especially as OU students expressed strong interest in languages.
Our modern language programme grew successfully through the 1990s, beginning with French, followed by German and most recently Spanish. The thousands of students taking these courses now represent by far the largest concentration of language students in any UK university. In tackling a new subject the OU always tries to use its scale to innovate and improve on traditional teaching methods. In languages we have pioneered new ways of using telematics as well as developing highly effective summer schools.
I joined the summer school at Santiago de Compostela for a few days in August, having paid visits to its French and German equivalents in previous years. In organising these schools we rely quite heavily on the host university, not only for residential and classroom facilities, but also for some of the tutors. These relationships, with the University of Caen in Normandy, the University of Jena in Eastern Germany and now with the University of Santiago, have developed extremely well. Although they lack the initial knowledge of the OU’s aims and methods that UK universities have acquired, our continental academic colleagues appreciated our requirements quickly and responded with enthusiasm to the seriousness that the OU and its students bring to these events.
We have not been able to find all the capacity we need at these continental universities so we also run language summer schools at UMIST. These too have been highly successful and I am most grateful for the way that local residents and businesses with French, German and Spanish backgrounds have pitched in to help create a little corner of France, or Germany, or Spain in the heart of Manchester.
When we attend summer schools my wife and I try to participate fully by living in the student residence, eating in the refectory, sitting in on classes and joining the excursions. The Santiago school was most impressive. Local and OU tutors formed a cohesive team and the activities had been carefully and imaginatively designed to maximise the time that students spent speaking Spanish in a variety of situations. The students, some very fluent, some less so, threw themselves into the activities with gusto.
We took advantage of the free afternoon to renew our acquaintance with Santiago, especially its unique Romanesque cathedral with its Baroque exterior. It is home to the world’s largest thurible, botafumeiro, which we were able to see in action at the daily pilgrim mass, and some of the most beautiful medieval sculpture. I particularly liked the statue of the prophet Daniel because it is one of the earliest sculptures in which the subject smiles!
While we were enjoying wine and tapas at a nearby café a student approached me spontaneously to tell me that she thought every aspect of the summer school was excellent. Another said how impressed he was by the professionalism of every aspect of the OU’s language programme. From the newspaper given out on the flight home I learned that the OU has now risen to tenth place in the quality league table of UK universities. Altogether a pleasant end to the holiday season!