Catalan Ministry of Language Policy and UOC sign agreement to promote language volunteering

The Catalan Ministry of Language Policy, through its Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (Consortium for Language Normalization, CPNL), has signed an agreement with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) to promote the Catalan language by introducing the CPNL's Volunteering for Language (VxL) programme at the university. The result is the Xerra que Xerra initiative, which is open to the entire university community (students, faculty and course instructors, tutors, research staff, administrative staff, alumni and former employees).

The agreement was signed at the university's campus in Poblenou, Barcelona, on Friday 8 May. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Language Policy, F. Xavier Vila, and the Rector of the UOC, Àngels Fitó.

The agreement is part of the CPNL's strategy to partner with other organizations to extend the use of Catalan in all spheres of society. To this end, the UOC is a key ally and a key player within the Catalan university system, not only because of its importance in higher education but also because of its innovative nature and the diversity of the members of its community.

The VxL programme fosters the learning of Catalan by bringing two people together to talk: a volunteer, who speaks Catalan fluently, and a learner, who has a basic knowledge of the language and wants to become more fluent or who already speaks Catalan well but wants to keep working on it. The meetings can be face-to-face or online. They are an hour long and take place once a week over a period of at least ten weeks on a day and at a time agreed to by the two participants.

In the case of Xerra que Xerra, both the volunteers and the learners will be members of the UOC community. The agreement also covers raising awareness of the VxL programme and other activities organized by the CPNL through the university's channels.

The UOC's role

A particularly interesting aspect of the agreement is that the UOC will award credit to students who participate in the scheme as part of their programme of study, provided that they meet the requirements, which include completing ten one-hour sessions in Catalan with the partner they're assigned.

The UOC will also organize complementary cultural activities to encourage the use of Catalan, to strengthen bonds among the university community and to raise awareness of the other organizations it works with and of Catalonia, in general. These activities may also be open to participants in the VxL programme.

The initiative was launched within the framework of the objectives established in the UOC's 2025-2027 Language Plan. The agreement with the CPNL reinforces and raises the profile of the programme and makes the UOC one of its leading partners.

In the words of Jordi Gavaldà, director of the UOC's Language Service, the aim is "to promote the use of Catalan in all areas of activity and to encourage everyone to use it in informal settings […] The UOC's ubiquitous nature means we can develop the Catalan university system's first global language volunteering programme, opening it up to participants from around the world. Wherever you may be, you can help make Catalan a language that brings people together."

With this agreement, the Ministry of Language Policy and the CPNL continue to expand the VxL scheme in universities and develop strategies to promote the use of Catalan in new contexts and new communities. Within higher education, the University of Girona and the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia already support the VxL scheme and award credit to participating students.

Language volunteering

The VxL programme for practising Catalan through conversation is supported by the Ministry of Language Policy and managed in Catalonia by the CPNL.