Conclusions of the 1st Salamanca MOU Conference A) Cross-Cutting Issues: 1. 2.

Enhance or introduce remedial or top-up programmes to boost the language A. Raise awareness in your programmes about key UN competencies both general and linguistic. UN should provide traineeship for trainers. Universities-members of the networks should standardize evaluation criteria. First step - start inviting each other to exam juries. Basis of the criteria UN competencies. Create a common bank of curricula, syllabi, teaching materials, manuals, etc., put it on the Portal.

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B) Adapting Curricula and Methods: 6. The United Nations should draw up an inventory of the ski9lls and competencies required of its translators and interpreters to serve as a guide for universities in adapting curricula and methods and advising students and, for the UN, as a basis for designing tests to measures such skills and competencies and evaluating candidates for language posts. Horizontal cooperation should be further developed between MOU universities, covering their experiences in adapting curricula and methods to UN requirements and receiving students from other MOU universities who wish to learn or improve their proficiency in s second passive language which is used in the host university. Personal contacts should be facilitated between teachers and students of MOU universities, on the one hand and, and UN language professionals, on the other, for the purpose of sharing current, up-to-date UN materials, assessing and providing feedback on translations of such materials done by students and providing model translations done by UN professionals. In this connection, expanding the internship programme is highly desirable.

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C) Interpretation: 9. To ensure structured cooperation (pedagogical assistance should be discussed with the schools in advance to allow students to prepare for professional interpreters visits).

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To consider higher degrees of assistance to the UK universities training students with Russian and French/Spanish due to serious recruitment problems (following the introduction of high tuition fees across the UK).

D) Practical Approaches to Translator Training: 11. Universities should help identify textbooks and reference books on important topics for the UN language services (e.g., grammar, style manuals, law, education systems). The list could be shared among members of the network and other interested universities and international organizations. Universities experience in screening applicants for admission to their training programmes should be shared with the UN as a guide for the latters prescreening of candidates for its competitive examinations.

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E) Training and Research: 13. UN should communicate with the national ministries on the need to ensure proficiency in the mother tongue. Training programmes should be given more time to study subject-matters important for the UN.

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F) Working Together: 15. Discussed various ways of strengthening the internship programme in the light of the experience gained thus far. Ideas included exploring the possibility of study visits by university faculty members and traineeships in which trainees would be paid a stipend but would also be assigned part of the regular workload of the receiving service or unit. Explored various possibilities for networking, including those offered by the European Masters in Translation and by the Optimale Project and the establishment of a dedicated forum for former interns and trainees to share their experiences, including with prospective interns/trainees. Highlighted the need for increasing reliance on horizontal cooperation among MOU universities, including the sharing of best practices and leveraging the strengths of individual members, such as the experience of the University of Geneva in computer-supported collaborative learning (e-learning).

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The University of Mons offered to host the Second MoU Conference in the city of Mons, Belgium in the first week of May 2012 and the conference welcomed the offer.