Master's Program in Translation Studies Accepted into the International Network of Simulated Translation Bureaus
June 19, 2024
The master's program "Translation of Applied Texts" at the Faculty of Translation Studies of Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS FTS) has been accepted into the International Network of Simulated Translation Bureaus (INSTB), which unites several European universities.
The member universities of this network participate in a university partnership program in which universities and colleges use so-called training (simulated) translation bureaus in their translation studies. In these training translation bureaus, students work by simulating the activities of a real translation bureau. Participation in this program is integrated into the study process and is a practice-based part of the study program, for which credit points are awarded.
The idea of a training translation agency or "skills lab" was developed by representatives of the Maastricht School of Translation at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Its first training translation agency was established back in 1984. Since then, the Maastricht School of Translation has refined this idea and inspired other colleges and universities to join the program. The idea for a network of translation training offices was conceived in Maastricht in 2008, when interested colleges and universities gathered at a meeting there, but the INSTB was officially established as an international network in 2015.
Participating universities are recognized as full members of the INSTB if they commit to implementing the program's objectives and meet the admission criteria.
INSTB members enjoy the following benefits:
- Participating universities are entitled to issue INSTB certificates to their students.
- Participating universities are entitled to use the INSTB logo on their websites and in other presentation materials. This logo is a mark of the program's quality. The names of participating universities are published on the INSTB website.
- Participants benefit from participation in the INSTB network program, as it implements a so-called idea generation workshop to develop translation assessment criteria, an internal and external study audit system, study practice assessment criteria, study program development models, student and teacher training programs, a translation task exchange model, and a collaborative system for improving translators' skills.
- Participants will have access to a useful INSTB online document repository.
From the 2024/2025 academic year, the VUAS FTS master's program "Translation and Terminology" will operate within this network, and its activities will be coordinated by the master's program lecturer, VUAS research assistant MBA Aiga Veckalne, who has extensive experience in managing the Eastern European branches of the language services company "Skrivanek". Aiga Veckalne teaches the course "Translation and Terminology Work Management" in the master's program.
Admission to the master's program for the 2024/2025 academic year will begin on July 16.
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