Language center

The Language Center of the University of Pavia offers services related to the teaching and learning of foreign languages aimed at students, teachers, and administrative staff of the University of Pavia as well as external individuals or institutions.

The center promotes the international dimension of the University through the dissemination of knowledge of languages and Italian as a foreign language through educational, research, and cultural scientific initiatives. To achieve these goals, the Center:

  • Provides teaching, technology, materials, and language consultancy;
  • Organizes extracurricular language courses;
  • Conducts language proficiency assessment activities (Erasmus tests);
  • Promotes the dissemination, attainment, and recognition of international certifications for foreign language proficiency;
  • Participates in research activities in the field of linguistics and language teaching.

The University of Pavia Language Centre runs Italian language courses throughout the academic year. They are mainly addressed to Erasmus+, international exchange and enrolled students, but they are also open to anyone who is interested in learning the Italian language

Course formats

Semester course

  • Start date: October and February
  • Levels: A1 – A2 – B1 – B2
  • Teaching: 50 hours, 2 evening lessons per week

Intensive courses

  • Start dates: November and March
  • Levels: A1 – A2 – B1 – B2
  • Teaching: 50 hours, 2 hours per day (evening lessons)

Qualification

Students who attend at least 80% of the course will be allowed to take the final exam. Students passing the final exam will receive a certificate of attendance reporting the final grade and the linguistic level achieved.
5 ECTS credits will be assigned to Erasmus+ students and other international exchange students with Pavia University passing the final exam.
The final exam is not compulsory.

For all information and to enroll visit the Language Centre’s website.

The Language Center organizes language courses in:

  • Chinese
  • Portuguese
  • French
  • Spanish
  • English
  • German
  • Italian for foreigners

These language courses, which do not replace the curricular integrative teaching, offer an opportunity for students who wish to have an additional moment of development or maintenance of their linguistic skills.

The attendance certificate with passing the final exam exempts outgoing Erasmus students from participating in the language proficiency assessment test provided by the Erasmus+ call of the University of Pavia.

At the Language Center, you can take the following international certifications:

  • For French: DELF and DALF in agreement with Institut Français Milano;
  • For English: IELTS Academic;
  • For Italian as a foreign language: CILS A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 from the University for Foreigners of Siena;

For German: TestDaF from the TestDaF-Institut.

  • The center is also the venue for the onSET language proficiency assessment test by g.a.s.t. for both German and English.

What are international certifications? They are documents recognized internationally that attest to the level of proficiency in a foreign language according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The levels of language proficiency articulated in the CEFR are six (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) and are used throughout Europe and other continents as parameters to provide language teachers with a reference model for the preparation of teaching materials and for the assessment of language skills.

Achieving a certification is useful for:

  • Enhancing one's educational path;
  • Entering the job market;

Enrolling in a university course abroad.

  • The staff of the Language Center is available to assist in choosing the preparation path to follow for passing the exam and to provide information.

Students who intend to participate in the Erasmus+ program are required to demonstrate that their language proficiency is adequate for the university they have applied to.

For this purpose, the Language Center, in collaboration with the International Relations Office, offers the opportunity to take a language assessment test available in French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.

Erasmus language assessment tests are administered twice a year through the university's Kiro platform and allow for the assessment of language proficiency levels from A2 to C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

On the Kiro platform, there are activities available for preparation and simulation of the Erasmus tests.

The Language Center offers the opportunity to independently learn foreign languages and Italian as a foreign language using the teaching materials from the media library and the equipment in the language laboratory.

The self-learning classroom has 12 multimedia workstations.

Graduates in languages ​​are constantly available to assist users in choosing the most suitable materials for their needs.


 

The media library of the Center offers more than 1000 paper, audio, and video supports that can be used to learn more than 50 different languages (*) and a collection of original language films that includes over 650 titles.

The multimedia supports available in the laboratories can be used autonomously or semi-guided by students to delve into topics covered during educational activities and, more generally, by various users to learn or strengthen their knowledge of a foreign language or to prepare for an international certification exam.

(*) Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Basque, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Catalan, Czech, Cantonese Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Danish, Modern Hebrew, Estonian, Finnish, French, Welsh, Japanese, Modern Greek, Gujarati, Hindi,

Indonesian, English, Irish, Italian, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Mongolian, Dutch, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Swahili, German, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Zulu.

The library loan service is available for graded readings in Chinese, French, English, Italian for foreigners, German, Spanish, and for materials preparing for DELF and DALF certifications for French language, and IELTS for English language.

The publications currently available can be borrowed from the laboratories of the Language Center until stocks are exhausted.

The available texts can be consulted on the Language Center's website at the following page: https://cla.unipv.it/ in the self-learning laboratory and media library section.