School of Modern Languages

News and Events

18 Queen’s students, including 11 studying Languages, took part in the first ever Brussels Study Tour organised by the Careers Service in the final week of the Easter Vacation. The aim of the tour was to introduce Queen’s students to the EU institutions and to promote the aspiration of living and working at the heart of Europe. The group was hosted at the Irish College in Leuven, and was accompanied by Ms Roisin Copeland, Senior Careers Advisor, and Dr Nigel Harkness, Director of Education in the School of Modern Languages.

The group visited the EU Parliament and Commission, had meetings with a range of people working in the EU institutions as translators, policy advisors, journalists, and diplomats, and gained insights into the wide range of career opportunities there are for linguists in Brussels and the application process. Among the social highlights of the tour were dinner with the Irish Ambassador to Belgium, and an alumni reception hosted by the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels. As one of our students commented, ‘Meeting the QUB alumni really showed us that there is a place for Queen’s graduates in Brussels and that working in the EU is a really attainable goal’.

Dr Nigel Harkness welcomed this important initiative: ‘Not only did the study tour make our students aware of the career opportunities that are available to Languages graduates in the European Union, but it also reinforced what we have been saying to them since day 1 of their degree: that learning a language really does give them a head start when it comes to careers. Everyone they met in Brussels stressed that speaking English simply is not enough. To work in the EU institutions you need to be able to speak English and French as basic working languages, and then one of the other 24 official languages, whether that be Spanish, Portuguese or Irish.’

  

 

 Pictured at the Alumni reception are Russell Donaldson (Law with French), Dr Gerry Mulligan, Director of the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels, and Dr Nigel Harkness, Director of Education in the School of Modern Languages

 

 

 

   

 

Dr Gerry Mulligan welcomes students and alumni to the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels. Also pictured is Ms Roisin Copeland, Senior Careers Advisor and Tour Leader.

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The regional TV station of Castilla-Leon in Spain recently produced a programme about people from the region living in Belfast.

Spanish PhD student, Leticia Villamediana, who works on Eighteenth Century Periodical Press, features in the progamme.

The programme can be viewed on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEkCBNpIjwQ

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The Minister for Europe, the Rt Hon David Lidington MP, has visited Queen's to encourage students to consider a career in the European Union Civil Service.

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