Two "Training for Trainers" seminars, one in German and one in Spanish, were run in parallel in Brussels from 14 to 18 January 2019 for a total of 28 participants. 22 participants came from Member States, 1 from candidate countries (Serbia) and 6 from third countries (1 from Argentina, 1 from Cuba, 2 from Russia and 2 from China).
As usual, the training seminars were run by experienced SCIC trainers, with the main objective of assisting and advising fellow trainers from partner universities on teaching interpretation techniques, designing and running a course, candidate profiles, aptitude tests, examinations etc. It was also a very good opportunity to present some of SCIC’s latest tools, like the “Knowledge Centre on Interpretation” or updates of our more traditional ones, such as the “My collection” feature in the Speech Repository, to our partners.
An informal lunch with SCIC’s DG, Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer, and the relevant Heads of Units took place on Wednesday 16th of January, giving participants the opportunity to network and meet SCIC management. On this occasion, the Director General delivered a welcome address to all participants, highlighting the state of play and the importance of current partnerships, along with future challenges and objectives.
The TfT seminars represent a capacity building exercise but also a networking platform and a hub for the creation of a community of best practices. I would like to thank the trainers for their commitment and hard work, the colleagues who took part as guest speakers, the Heads of the relevant booths, as well as all the other colleagues involved in the selection and organisation process.