Agjencia Universitare e Frankofonisë (AUF) is one of the largest higher education and research institutions in the world which promotes cohesion between higher education and research institutions.

It aims to increase collaboration on projects that significantly improve academic systems as well as support overcoming the three main challenges related to the quality of training, research and university governance.

It aims to promote graduate employment, professional willingness and the critical role of universities as stakeholders in the social and economic development

 

Title: Realizing audio-guides for the “House of Leaves” museum 

Funders: Francophone University Agency

Duration: December 2018 – April 2019

Objectives:

• Develop “education through research”
• Encourage students reflecting and critical spirit
• Professionalize
• Involve students in a collaborative project
• Mobilize knowledge usable in other activities of the touristic field.

 Achieved skills:

• Language and speaking skills (in French)
• Information and communication technical skills
• Cultural competencies
• Cross-disciplinary competencies

Expected outputs:

• Audio-guide in the French language for all the museum sectors

This project included the students of the Master of Science in Language and Intercultural and Tourist Communication as well as those of the Bachelor third year, Department of Communication. Students have a good grasp of French language (B1/B2 level). Their curricula contains communication, culture, and civilization related modules, such as: France History, French Civilization, Art History, Communication Theories, Cross-cultural communication, Communication techniques and strategies. The students profile is quite homogenous regarding their language, inter-disciplinary, multi-language, and socio-cultural skills. This professional experience provided the students with the realization of a product coming from the university tasks classical framework and confronted them to the problematics, conditioning, and responsibilities of working in professional context. Students have the possibility to face the realization and objectives as in the real employment world: working in teams and with partners, respecting deadlines and rigorous planning, etc.

At the university level, this project affirmed the students support and involvement in projects and activities of cultural and tourism actors (such as museums, media) as well as the willingness of exchanges and collaborations with professional field partners.

Partners:

• University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Languages
• The “House of Leaves” National Museum in Tirana
• International Tirana Radio in French

Title: Language means and communication strategies for the evaluation of material and immaterial national cultural heritage

Duration: January 2019 – December 2020 (postponed)

Funders: Francophone University Agency in cooperation with the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science Scientific Research Funding.

Partners:

• Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
• University of Studies of Torino
• University of Tirana

 The goal is to develop language means and communication strategies in the tourism field and develop research in this field, as one of the priority fields in the region. Research and its analysis aim to promote national cultural heritage and tourism by producing adequate means in the foreign language communication field.

 General objectives:

• Observations and analysis on how each country participating in the project builds the “wanted” image, for the provision of material and immaterial heritage tourism through studying the corpus to look closer at the defects and deficiencies of these practices and to promote the best practice.
• The contribute on training the future communication professionals in the tourism field.

 Specific objectives:

• The identification and comparison of touristic communication actors in each country to render a situation description;
• The identification and description of the touristic communication means and the objectives analysis of the local and international promotion of material and immaterial heritage;
• Analysis of tourism communication strategies through a linguistic, discourse, iconic and signs research;
• Exchanges with the partners of best identified, observed, and analyzed practices to issue a joint publication and for the output of recommendations to improve touristic communication.

 This research will contribute to the students education quality, the future communication professionals in the tourism field, current branch of Master in the Foreign Languages Faculty.

 

Expected outputs include:

• Research from a linguistic perspective of the current tourism communication and communication strategies for the promotion of material and immaterial cultural heritage in the 3 partner countries, Bulgaria, Albania, and Italy: for example, monuments, architecture, human works or combined nature and human works, traditions and oral expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, traditional handicrafts, etc.
• Findings on this communication importance and performance in the context of national and European strategies and instructions for cultural and heritage tourism development will be followed by developing an inventory of proposed recommendations and linguistic means to and target better this communication in assessing the national cultural goods.

The Project will have tangible outputs that will significantly impact the activity of the institutions that deal with cultural heritage and tourism, their staff qualification, and will also provide valuable contributes in this field’s university studies and researches.

Another priority is the separation and exchange of the best practices in the cultural heritage promotion field.

The project innovative nature is related to the cross-disciplinary approach: linguistic and anthropological. this project is innovative because it aims to bring a new approach to the tourism development, starting with communication effective strategies that might transform the country to a destination of choice, and optimize the tourism products marketing as well.

The methodology for the development and implementation of this project depends on the qualitative and quantitative analysis methods.

Title: French language official certifications and tests: principles, organization, evaluation

Funders: Francophone University Agency (FUA)

Duration: 2019-2020

Executing Institution: University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Languages

The project general objective is to support the establishment of educational modules or short vocational training at its member institutions in Eastern and Central Europe.

 

Title: Automatic processing of languages (APL): Computer tools in language processing: their handling and use in applied French

Funders: Francophone University Agency (FUA)

Duration: June 2020 – December 2020

Executing Institution: University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Languages

This project aims to develop lecturers education/training regarding the new teaching methods

 

Title: “Consortium d’innovation pour construire des communautes participatives dans les universites d’Europe Centrale et Orientale” (Innovation Consortium for Building Participating Communities in Central and Eastern European Universities) 

Duration: 2020-2021 

Schedule: ACTIF-ACTion; FUA (Francophone University Agency) 

The project theme relates to the civic education purposing the development of activities influencing a greater civic education and youth activization in the regional level.

 The project is supported by several pivots: 

• • Training on civic education in the consortium countries, establishing participative poles in each university; 
  • Situation analysis aiming to coordinate the undertaken activities in the context of where will they be implemented; 
  • Context analysis for each university; 
  • Establishing work-groups by youth; 
  • Defining the discussion themes; 
  • Organizing meetings, round tables, establishing discussion clubs for the civic education; 
  • Analyzing issues related to current challenges of civic education and the project perspectives. 

The project is part of four priority sustainable development objectives (quality education, sustainable cities and communities, peace and justice). It might have positive impacts regarding the realization of the UN and ODD strategic objectives in aspects such as gender equality, inequality reduction, improvement of culture in general and civic culture in particular.

Partners: 

• Polytechnic University of Tirana (Albania) 
• University of Belgrade (Serbia); 
• University of Szeged (Hungary); 
• State University Akaki Tsereteli Koutaissi (Georgia); 
• University of Zagreb (Croatia);
• New University of Bulgaria (Bulgaria).