Simultaneous interpreting of university lectures: a pilot project
The University of Bologna is the first in Italy pioneering an interpreting service between Italian and English that students can activate online or in class, thus providing an effective way to facilitate multilingual class management and, as a consequence, improve access to teaching.
“Educational interpreting” at the University of Bologna. This is a service of simultaneous interpreting of university lectures between Italian and English to help students who are not entirely able to learn in a foreign language. This is a pioneering project in Italy and a pilot version, involving approximately a hundred students, took place in the second semester of a.y. 2019/20.
This service of "Educational interpreting" is promoted by the Department of Interpreting and Translation of the University of Bologna under the coordination of professor Maria Chiara Russo. During every lecture, two interpreters are in class and take turns interpreting the professor's lecture and facilitating the student/professor interaction. Research fellow, Francesco Cecchi, who is a professional interpreter, is also involved in this pilot project as he takes care of its realization and evaluation.
The pilot project started with two teachings at the Forlì Campus: Financial Analysis by professor Andi Duqi at the Department of Management and History of Eastern Europe by professor Francesco Privitera at the Department of Political and Social Sciences. When the restrictive measures due to the Coronavirus outbreak imposed distance learning on the teaching activities at the University of Bologna, this service was carried out remotely thanks to a platform for remote simultaneous interpreting. This first phase of the project saw approximately 30% of the students using the interpreting service.
The University of Bologna hosts thousands of students from all over the world thanks to its 86 international degree programmes. For this reason, the University is committed to ensuring that every student has access to the teaching activities. Facilitating the management of multilingual classes contributes to this goal. "Educational Interpreting" represents a significant step in this direction and, at the same time, shapes a new professional profile, the educational interpreter for the academia, that may become in high demand on the job market.