Institute of Multilingualism

The Institute of Multilingualism was founded in 2008 as a joint institute of the University of Fribourg and the University of Teacher Education, Fribourg. Its activities include carrying out research projects in the area of multilingualism; supporting teaching at all levels of higher education (Bachelor, Masters, Doctoral, continuing education) at both the University of Fribourg and the University of Teacher Education, Fribourg; collaborating with various stakeholders on a regional, national as well as international level; sharing knowledge gained with the world of science and the general public; carrying out academic events; managing services and information.

The Institute of Multilingualism is committed to researching multilingualism and its linguistic, social, political, economic and educational aspects. Major areas of research include multilingualism in education, human migration and the workplace as well as the evaluation of language competence. The Institute of Multilingualism pursues its own research projects and participates in national and international projects. In addition, the institute assumes external mandates in research and development.

The Institute of Multilingualism cultivates contact to and co-operation with diverse departments and institutes. On the part of the University of Fribourg these include particularly:

The Department for Studies in Multilingualism and Foreign Languages
The Language Centre
The Institute of Federalism
The Department of English
The Department of Education Sciences

On the part of the University of Teacher Education, Fribourg the Institute collaborates primarily with the teaching and research unit “Society, Diversity and Multilingualism”.T

he Institute of Multilingualism is interconnected to a number of partner institutions. In addition, the institute works closely with other Swiss universities (Basel, Neuchâtel, Lausanne) as well as with foreign universities (University of Toronto, Canada; University of Strasbourg, France; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain).