Hrvatski jezik uključen u školski program provincije British Columbia

Godine 2003. primili smo sluzbeno pismo Ministarstva vanjskih poslova i evropskih integracija od gdje Bernarde Peris, koja je zivjela u Vancouveru, British Columbia, a danas je nacelnica Odjela za Hrvate u inozemstvu. I to je bio pocetak priprema projekta da se uvede hrvatski jezik u srednje skole u British Columbia, Canada.

Uz podrsku Veleposlanstva Republike Hrvatske u Ottawi, veleposlanika Ante Barbir, Kanadsko hrvatskog kongresa KHK, predsjednika Ivana Curman, tajnika prof. Vinka Grubisic, Hrvatske katolicke zupe Precista srca Marijina u Vancouveru, fra Mire Ancica ravnatelja skole pri zupi, pripreme su trajale pune cetiri godine. Tada se projektu pridruzila Helena Prlic kao koordinatorica koja uz to odlicno pise i govori engleski jezik.

U ime Kanadsko hrvatskog kongresa Ogranka British Columbije godinu dana smo dogovarali s Burnaby School District da uvedu hrvatski jezik na njihovu podrucju. Pisali smo izvjestaj o Hrvatima u Vancouveru i vaznosti hrvatskog jezika, te proveli anketu koliko djece zeli uciti hrvatski jezik na tom podrucju. Kad je School District poslao nasu dokumentaciju Ministarstvu prosvjete British Columbije i tek tada smo od njih dobili provincijski kurikulum i odobrenje da osnujemo radni tim koji ce na njemu raditi. Osnovali smo radni tim, koji je dvije godine ustrajno radio na kurikulumu i po zavrsetku rada, poslali ga nadleznom provincijskom ministarstvu. Na osnovu toga, Ministarstvo prosvjete za Britansku Columbiju je prihvatilo hrvatski jezik kao dio redovnog skolskog programa od 5 – 12 razreda. Sveukupan rad na ovom projektu trajao je 7 godina!

Koristimo ovu prigodu zahvaliti se u ime Kanadsko hrvatskog kongresa Ogranka British Columbia na dobroj suradnji s Ministarstvom prosvjete za Britansku Columbiju, Ministarstvu vanjskih poslova i evropskih integracija Republike Hrvatske gdji Bernardi Peris i Ministarstvu znanosti RH koji su nam pomagali s udzbenicima i potrebnom litaraturom za nastavne planove i programe, Veleposlanstvu Republike Hrvatske sa sjedistem u Ottawi, Kanadsko hrvatskom kongresu KHK sa sjedistem u Vancouveru, voditeljici projekta Zori Prlic, koordinatorici Helen Prlic i radnom odboru i svim sudionicima koji su neumorno radili na ovom projektu, a to su fra Pavisa Norac, Ana Kazulin Mele, Tomislav Cikes, Ljiljana Cecic, Ante Prlic, fra Miro Ancic, Ivan Curman, prof. Vinko Grubisic, Stjepan Tomas i Katarina Tomas.

Ostvarenje ovog projekta puno znaci za ovu nasu hrvatsku zajednicu u Vancouveru i British Columbiji. Ucenici u srednjim skolama imaju mogucnost izabrati hrvatski jezik kao nastavni predmet. Ucenje hrvatskog jezika ukljucuje stjecanje znanja o hrvatskoj kulturi, povijesti te kulturnoj bastini. Hrvatska djeca poznavanjem hrvatskog jezika pisanjem i komunikacijom cuvaju svoj indenditet. Osim djece hrvatskog porijekla nastava je otvorena i za sve ostale Kanadjane koji zele uciti hrvatski jezik i upoznati hrvatsku kulturu, jer je Kanada multikulturna drzava. Burnaby School District preuzima duznost i vjerojatno ce u svom glasilu uvrstiti hrvatski jezik s ostalim predmetima. Ali, sada roditelji trebaju poticati svoju djecu, da prihvate hrvatski jezik kao redoviti nastavni predmet.

Kanadsko hrvatski kongres Ogranak British Columbia
Pave Cikes, predsjednik

Edmonton Kanada – Potpisan Memorandum o suglasnosti o suradnji u podrucju obrazovanja i znanosti

Veleposlanica Republike Hrvatske u Kanadi mr. sc. Vesela Mrdjen Korac potpisala je u utorak, 9. studenoga 2010. godine, u Edmontonu, Memorandum o suglasnosti o suradnji u podrucju obrazovanja i znanosti izmedju Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta Republike Hrvatske i Ministarstva naprednog obrazovanja i tehnologije kanadske provincije Alberta sa zamjenicom ministra naprednog obrazovanja i tehnologije Annnette Trimbee.

Potpisivanjem ovog Memoranduma otvorila se mogucnost suradnje zainteresiranih sveucilista i istrazivackih instituta te konkretiziranje suradnje sa Sveucilistem Alberta u Edmontonu. U tom kontekstu, jucer je potpisan i Memorandum o suglasnosti izmedju Ministarstva znanosti obrazovanja i sporta i Wirth Instituta Sveucilista Alberta.

Time je Republika Hrvatska postala punopravna clanica nacionalnog instituta za austrijske i srednjoeuropske studije te se pridruzila dosadasnjim clanicama Austriji, Sloveniji, Madjarskoj, Slovackoj, Ceskoj i Poljskoj u predstavljanju srednjoeuropske povijesti i kulture kanadskoj istrazivackoj i akademskoj zajednici. Prvi hrvatski predstavnik ukljucit ce se u rad Wirth Instituta vec od ove akademske godine. Clanstvo Republike Hrvatske u Wirth Institutu u znacajnom dijelu pomaze i hrvatska zajednica Edmontona i Kanade cijem su celnistvu urucene zahvalnice Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta.

Mario Dragun
Glasnogovornik

MVPEI
http://www.mvpei.hr/custompages/static/hrv/templates/_frt_Pr
iopcenja.asp?id=6345
10. 11. 2010

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Leader in forming international partnerships paves way for other institutions in Croatia
By Michael Davies-Venn

Vesela Mrdjen Korac, Croatia’s ambassador to Canada, and Carl Amrhein, U of A provost and vice president (academic), sign agreement establishing the Croatian Research Doctoral Fellowship. (Front image from L-R) Jelena Bulic, first Croatian Doctoral Fellowship recipient, Franz Szabo, founding director of the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies, and Korac.

(Edmonton) The University of Alberta and the Alberta government have signed agreements with the Government of Croatia that will create opportunities for Albertas education institutions in that country. It establishes the Croatian Research Doctoral Fellowship at the U of As Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies and enhances the universitys involvement with Edmontons Croatian community.

Annette Trimbee, deputy minister, Alberta Ministry of Advanced Education and Technology, and Croatias ambassador to Canada signed a memorandum of understanding Nov. 9, which the founding director of the Wirth Institute, Franz Szabo, says paves the way for higher education institutions in the province to benefit from.

A lot of European governments, especially countries that were part of the Eastern Bloc, have legislation that makes it difficult to reach specific agreements with universities and other institutions, unless a broad government to government framework is there within which that agreement can happen, said Szabo. This agreement with the provincial government represents that broad framework.

The agreement comes following negotiations between Szabo and the Croatian government and Trimbee says the agreement creates important links for Albertas students and researchers. She notes that the U of A continues to be a leader in creating such opportunities.

Through this memorandum of understanding, we will be able to share the best resource available to us: our knowledge. Alberta places great emphasis on the international relationships fostered by our post secondary institutions and we are particularly proud of the U of A. This university is a leader in developing successful international partnerships based upon the highest standards of teaching and research capabilities.

Provost and Vice-President (academic) Carl Amrhein underscores the role of the U of A in putting Alberta on the international map. He says that the university takes great care in meeting the needs of the ministry and the province and that the Wirth Institute Canadas only such institute has been meeting its local, national and international mandate since it was established more than a decade ago. Amrhein says the agreement with the Croatian government closes a long list of European countries currently supporting the institute.

The signing of this agreement means that the central European dimension of our institute is now complete and that the U of A can take pride in having all of the Central European countries represented in the flags of the institute, Amrhein said. Until now, the governments of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia have been supporting the Wirth Institute, which Amrhein describes as Canadas ambassador for Central European study abroad. Croatian ambassador to Canada, Vesela Mrdjen Korac, says the agreement with the provincial government is the first step in a long and lasting cooperation and friendship.

And when it comes to friendship, I will like to emphasize the role of the Croatian community in Canada. They work to build bridges and friendship between our government and our people. Im sure that each one of 9,655 members of our community in Alberta has been supporting and promoting their homeland, Croatia, and contributing to Canada.

Evidence of that contribution was seen at the signing ceremony when Stejpan Krolo, president of the Canadian Croatian Congress, Edmonton branch, presented a $25,000.00 dollar cheque to Faculty of Arts Dean Lesley Cormack. The money will support the newly established fellowship. Commending the university, the ambassador says her government looks forward to the provosts visit to Croatia to strengthen the partnership.

The provost, professor Szabo and dean Cormack all recognize the importance of having, maintaining and growing such an institute here in Alberta, she said. This agreement with the U of A is the first channel that will bring us to stronger cooperation in higher education and in sharing our knowledge. We will work to identify areas of expertise that we have common interests, she said.

Jelena Bulic is the first recipient of the fellowship and Korac says she will be among a long list of other young researchers from Croatia who will come to Canada to learn and share knowledge, and, most importantly, build relationships. One of the most important outcomes from the exchange of students is establishing networks. And from those networks we always hope for stronger personal relations, friendships and people to people relations, Korac said. Such is the kinds of relationships that Szabo says the institute has been building with communities in Alberta and that Amrhein say provides necessary support to the university.

The support of the community is always important to a university. We have ongoing and very generous support from the people of Alberta, a level of support that is becoming increasingly rare in the world of public universities, Amrhein said. However, public universities like ours rely on private philanthropy to add that margin of excellence, which allows us to compete effectively around the world with the best kinds of private universities with whom we often compete for faculty, staff and students.

Szabo says community engagement has been one of the hallmarks in building the Wirth Institute. He says genuine dialogue between the university and the communities is important. Were listening as much as were talking with the communities were engaged with at the institute. The communities value that and it is one of the reasons that they support us, Szabo said.

We engage with the communities in ways that bring the people to the campus and bring the campus to the people. And thats important to them because they feel that not only do we talk the talk, we walk the walk.