Summer School 2021: Language Diversity, Education and Social Participation

Linguistic (as well as cultural and social) diversity are basic characteristics of today's societies. Their causes include, among others, increasing migration, globalisation, new technical possibilities of communication, and interactions across traditional borders. Using three nations with significant migration – Australia, China and Germany – as examples, the Summer School explored how increasing diversity affects education and social participation, and what policies and discourses have been developed in response to linguistic diversity.

Despite their different socio-political traditions in dealing with migration, the challenges and responses to linguistic diversity in the three countries share many similarities. Central among these is that linguistic diversity continues to be a central factor in social exclusion in the three countries.

The 4-week program on “Language Diversity, Education and Social Participation” was offered by University of Hamburg in July 2021 in a digital format. The specialized research program addressed final-year Bachelor as well as Master and PhD students and discussed the social effects of linguistic and cultural diversity. The courses were accompanied by a wide supplementary program on German and Hamburg culture and history, including field trips and excursions as well as a German language course in the introduction week. Students received up to 10 ECTS for participating in all courses.

You can find a report on the successful implementation of the Summer School 2021 here (Blog article).

Further information is available on the international office’s official summer school website.