Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Actions will support the Parliament’s strategic engagement process in view of the European Elections 2024, including the growth of the together.eu community and the activation of other Parliament’s networks both at local and headquarters levels
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC) of the European Parliament provides and manages interpretation services for all meetings organised by the European Parliament, as well as other institutions and bodies within the framework of inter-institutional cooperation. For this purpose, DG LINC collaborates with universities and organisations specialising in conference interpreter training to ensure the availability of a sufficient number of qualified conference interpreters to cover the service needs.
This topic focuses on the organisation of high-quality master or post-graduate courses in conference interpreting.
Detailed Call Description
Objective: As a provider of interpretation services in the European Parliament, and increasingly to other EU institutions and bodies, the mission of the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences is to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified conference interpreters are available to enable the EU institutions and bodies to function properly in a context of linguistic diversity including at regular events, all over the world, where wide language cover is required.
Under the principle of subsidiarity, Member States have the obligation to provide the necessary training. The European Parliament identifies the language combinations and skills that best match its needs, and assists universities in training high quality conference interpreters within these priority combinations.
The programme contributes to this mission by supporting the following actions in the field of interpretation:
- The promotion of quality and linguistic diversity in the teaching of conference interpreting in the official languages of the EU, of the candidate countries, and of the countries which are the main political partners of the Union;
- The establishment of postgraduate centres of excellence;
- Cooperation among postgraduate courses from different European, candidate and third countries offering relevant language combinations;
- Regional cooperation among universities with complementary language regimes.
Grant award criteria:
- Relevance to the priority needs for languages used at the European Parliament and the EU institutions and bodies for which it provides interpretation services (see table below) – max. 25 points;
The aim of DG LINC is to assist the training of interpreters of high quality for the language combinations for which short-term or long-term needs have been identified. The language priorities identified are listed in the table below. Applicants should also consider the language profiles for accreditation tests.
- Implementation of postgraduate conference interpreting training requirements, meeting generally accepted quality standards (European Master in Conference Interpretation or similar) – max 25 points; Special attention will be given to the following quality criteria:
- The course must be at post-graduate level. All applicants should have at least a BA degree or equivalent.
- The course shall last between one and two academic years and between 60 and 120 ECTS (or equivalent) must be awarded.
- The course must be run and designed and interpreting classes taught by practicing conference interpreters.
- Applicants must pass an aptitude test before being admitted.
- Students must receive at least 400 hours of training, 70% of which at least must be devoted to practical interpreter training.
- Self-training should represent at least 400 hours. Interim testing should be organised (for guidance purposes or for the purposes of elimination).
- Tuition in the theory of interpreting and other subjects (public speaking, knowledge about international institutions, basic background knowledge in economics, law and a module on “EU interpretation” with focus on interpretation for the European Institutions).
- The final diploma/certificate in conference interpretation should only be awarded if the candidate’s competence in both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting in all working language combinations has been assessed and judged consistent with requirements for entry into the profession.
- The final examination juries should include external assessors who are also practicing conference interpreters, at least one assessor should have the target language as their A language.
- Experience in the field and employment record of graduates for the EU Interpretation Services and/or contribution to creating and maintaining a sufficient pool of interpreters for the EU Interpretation Services; – max. 25 points;
- Use of innovative technologies for training – max. 15 points;
- Co-operation with other universities (in particular with candidate countries) – max. 5 points;
- Quality and efficiency of the project management (including appropriateness of the budget) – max. 5 points.
Maximum total points: 100 points (for newly established courses criterion 3 will not be applied – maximum total points: 75 points).
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
- An application for a grant will not be automatically successful.
- A topic may only receive one grant from the EU budget (non-cumulative award).
- A grant is a form of complementary funding, to promote European Union objectives, based on the principle of co-financing and may not finance the total cost of the topic or generate profits.
- Income and expenditure of the proposed budget must be detailed and in balance and may not have the purpose or effect of generating a profit for the beneficiary. If the total amount paid as pre-financing by the European Parliament exceeds the final amount of the grant determined at the end of the topic, any amounts overpaid by the European Parliament have to be reimbursed by the beneficiary concerned.
- Only costs directly related and necessary for the topic may be co-financed.
- The European Parliament’s maximum rate of funding is 75% of total eligible costs.
- No grant may be awarded retrospectively for topics already started or completed.
However, should a grant be awarded, certain agreed costs incurred by the beneficiary, before the signature of the agreement are eligible for co funding (e.g. aptitude tests, preparation of the course), if they are linked to the programme cycle of the study year to which the grant is referring, provided that they are included and accepted in the grant agreement. Costs incurred prior to the submission date of the application are not eligible for co-funding.
Thematic Categories
- Education and training
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Educational Institutions
- Other Beneficiaries
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
Eligible applicants:
- Higher-Education Institutions, Universities, university institutes, consortia and associations of universities or institutes, which offer or coordinate postgraduate courses specialising in conference interpreting.
- Associations, consortia and bodies, whose main mission is to support cooperation and disseminate best practices in the field of worldwide conference interpreter training.
Teaching establishments must be approved by their national authorities as public or private bodies charged with a public task of teaching and organising courses at master or postgraduate level in the field of conference interpreting. If the applicant is not a teaching establishment, its mission must nevertheless be related to the objectives of this programme and be recognised by the national authorities where it is established.
Applicants must be legally established in one of the Member States of the European Union, in one of the EFTA countries2 or in a candidate country for future membership of the European Union.
Applicants must ensure that none of the involved entities are subject to EU restrictive measures adopted under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) or Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). The prohibition applies throughout the whole performance of the Grant Agreement.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
EU Contact Point
For technical questions on the Portal Submission System, please contact the IT Helpdesk.
For Non-IT related questions should be sent to the following email address: LINC.grants@ep.europa.eu , no later than 22/04/2025.