On Monday 23rd of November the Laboratory of Educational Policy, Research and Development and Interuniversity Cooperation of the University of Piraeus organised an educational visit to Cervantes Institute of Athens for the students of the
Master on International and European Policies on Education, Training and Research and of the course “Education and R&D in the EU” of the Department of International and European Studies. Numerous students from other universities attended the event as well.
Ana María Rodríguez Gil, technical counselor for educational affairs of the Embassy of Spain in Rome and responsible for educational affairs in Albania, Greece and Italy, Mercé Torra, responsible for the DELE exams, and Ana Roca Gadea, president of the Library Juan Carlos Onetti, participated at the event, which was followed by the projection of the classic Spanish film "Bienvenido Mr. Marshall". Mr. Víctor Andresco, director of Cervantes Institute of Athens, and Mr. Juan Sáenz de Heredia, counselor of the Embassy of Spain in Athens also honoured us with their presence. Dr F. Asderaki, president of ERDIC, and dr. Ch. Goussios, president of the Master on International and European Policies on Education, Training and Research, were also present. The event was coordinated by Alexandros Apostolidis, student of the Department of International and European Studies of the University of Piraeus and volunteer of ERDIC, who also did the consecutive interpretation from Spanish to Greek and vice-versa.
Participants had the opportunity to learn about Spain’s educational system and education policy, the new technological tools and various means of internationalisation the country makes use of, as well as the curricula offered in Spain regarding various fields of studies, such as tourism, informatics, Fine Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities and philology. DELE exams and certifications and the Common European Framework for Foreign Languages were subsequently presented, as well as several other activities of a modern linguistic and cultural institute – literature clubs, movie festivals, seminars, excursions etc. Then, students became familiar with methods of digitalisation of libraries and international networks of libraries and they were guided around the model Library Juan Carlos Onetti of Cervantes Institute, inaugurated by Queen Sofía in 2007. In the end the film Bienvenido Mr. Marshall was projected and briefly commented, a classic Spanish movie that satirises the everyday life of post-civil war Spain, touches the sensitive issue of Spain's exclusion from the Marshall Plan, and demonstrates many important aspects of the political, cultural and social life in Spain.
