STUDENTS' ISSUES

Vicky Londoño y Diana Patricia Fagua

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 2

Octubre de 2002

   In the previous Newsletter we reflected on our expectations regarding our studies in Philology and Languages. The opinion poll showed the students thinking with respect to their studies and the fact of seeing the career within the teaching field.

Having reflected on that, the question is how to focus and develop the final graduation project. There are four modalities for it. Monograph Project, post degree course, internship and translation project. In order to opt for the degree in the philology and languages, the process is as follows:

-          First, the students apply for a teacher of their like and interest to the Comité Asesor de Carrera. She will orient them in the development of their project.

-          The Comité Asesor de Carrera formalizes the appointment to the Teacher as the director or guide of the final project.

-          When en the final project is finished, and it is thoroughly checked by the director, the students apply for the appointment of two juries.

-          To defend the final project it is required.

- To have satisfactorily completed the plan of studies according to the revision of the academic record by the Head of the career.

- The final project must be approved by this director.

-To have the written approval from the juries together with their authorization to uphold the final project.

The sustenance is divided into two parts: one is the delivery in front of the juries and the audience and the second is the questions arising from the juries and the public.

Students might choose among four modalities for the final project. The first one is the Monograph. It has been a topic of discussion in many meetings of the Comité Asesor because the parameters to carry it out are unclear and vague. In addition, the Department does not seem to have exact parameters to evaluate it. At the moment the Department through one its GDA (Grupo de Desarrollo Académico) is working on the elaboration of clearer parameters.

Up to now a monograph project must have approximately 80 pages, it has to solve a problem seen by the students in a specific context. Students have to develop a research question, an explanation to the problem posed in this question, propose a solution, and then formulate some conclusions.

Students must develop the final project within a period of 3 semesters after they have finished their academic subjects.

The second possibility are the post-graduate courses. It was regulated by the minute N° 014 of June 22nd 1999 and the Resolution number 219 by the Consejo de Facultad de Ciencias Humanas. Students who want to opt for this modality have to have finished all their academic subjects in the plan of studies and have to have a minimum average score of three five(3.5) in "El Plan Vigente de la Carrera".

This modality can be registered just one time. The grade obtained in these courses will have a qualitative and quantitative value; it can then be approved or reproved. The aspirants for this modality will be submitted to the process of selection and admission in the respective program of post-graduate studies. Some of the requirements are:

1.            Payment of the rights or the register in the postgraduate programme.

2.            Test of knowledge (in some programs it could be an essay or a project.

3.            A reading comprehension test in a foreign language.

4.            Study of the curriculum vitae.

5.            A Personal interview.

The students have to attend three academic subjects from the post-graduate programme of Philology and Languages or another similar level approved by the Universidad Nacional. The academic subjects are determined in each semester by the post-graduate comite Asesor.

If the student fails one or two academic subjects taken in the post-graduate course, s/he has to opt for any of the other two options. The student who has finished these courses and wants to continue in the programme as a  post-graduate regular student, has to adjust to the regulations of the post-graduate programme. The third modality is Internship. It was regulated in the Resolution number 298, and the Minefield 6r|lovember 20th 2001. The main objective of the internship is to support the extension processes in several fields related to the study area, and also to promote the bond of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia with society. It has to guarantee the students the execution of activities in areas and problems referred to their professional field.. The institutions in which students are to do their internships must fulfill some characteristics among which we have:

They must be Public, private, governmental or non-governmental institutions.

They must have a legal status, and a renown experience in a specific field.

They must provide a liaison person who will be the contact with the university and assess the performance of the candidate. 

The internship can occur in two circumstances:

1.            When an institution or entity applies for interested candidates.

2.            When the internship is arranged by students themselves.

The students of the last semesters interested in Bilingualism and Pedagogy and Languages, for example, develop a project in San Andrés Island, since this branch has been developing different programmes and projects in the English field. In fact Norma Chavarro and Margarita Ruiz (associated teachers at Universidad Nacional) were working on the Island at the end of March, 2001. They proposed some topics for research: "La Pedagogía del inglés en el Contexto plurilingüe de la Isla de San Andrés" and "Construcción Pedagógica «el Ingles a Ritmo Inter-cultural" respectively.

In this way, the students can develop proposals related with the pedagogy of English within Creole-English and Spanish contexts. Besides the knowledge English, the students should have knowledge in methodology and research of education in the school. Once the proposal is approved by the advisor teacher, the students will develop the project on the Island within a period of three months approximately. It is important to say that the branch in San Andrés offers an economic support, two-way tickets and one and a half million pesos for personal expenses.

Although this modality has many interesting aspects, it is  incredible to know that people are not interested on it. And it is important to say that there are many institutions interested in you as students of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and many times those opportunities are lost.

On the other hand, working on translation could be another option. Translating a book could be a good idea too as Omar Johannes Pulido is doing. This is his opinion. This humble piece of writing is dedicated to the people who made my life "so pleasant" during the time I was a student.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME, TRANSLATE A BOOK!

When I began my studies in Philology and Foreign languages back in 1998, I did not know what to do in my future life as a professional (and I still do not). I thought the only option I had was to be a teacher without any other possibility in the working arena, but with time I learnt about the different fields I could work in, so I found that I could work as a translator. This fact gave me a little bit of tranquility and it also made me wonder if there was a postgraduate course in translation. 


Last year when I was taking the course "Seminario Monográfico I" I knew that I had many options to get my qualifications in Philology; there were the monograph project, something called "Pasantía" (both imply research), the translation of a book and finally, specialization in translation As I have said in the previous lines my professional interest was focused on translation, so I chose the postgraduate course in that field, but I must confess that there was not enough, available, and appropriate information from the Department. I could not present the necessary documentation to do my registration in the dates scheduled by them. As a result I was left out of the long-awaited course. I realized that I had one option and it was translating a book.

Translating a book is not simply looking for unknown words in the dictionary and writing them on the paper; translation is an intellectual process that implies many things and variables such as the author's intention, the type of book (literary, scientific, etc.), the cultural background, etc. The translator's job is to understand, to interpret and to express the ideas presented in a text. So, translating a book is a good option too.