About the Faculty

Background

There are several points to highlight. Firstly, the FTI-EII is the first translation and interpretation university faculty in French-speaking Belgium.

It is also the only higher education establishment which offers a programme in Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian).

The Faculty organises various linguistic immersion activities, starting in the third year of the Bachelor’s. Students, therefore, have the possibility of doing a six-month to one-year placement in one of 130 partner universities, or in a multilingual company here in Belgium.

The FTI-EII also offers professional integration activities, namely translation workshops, which begin in the first year of the Master’s. These are demonstrations of how translation agencies operate and are carried out over a two week period. They are led by students and supervised by teaching staff.

 

The FTI-EII also has a solid network of collaborations and associations:

  • Collaborations with major international institutions
  • Memorandum of Understanding – UN
  • Directorate-General for Interpretation – EU
  • NATO – SHAPE
  • Professional Associations
  • Member of the Belgian Chamber of Translators, Interpreters and Philologists (CBTIP-BKVTF)
  • International Federation of Translators (FIT)
  • International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC)
  • International Standing Conference of University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters (CIUTI)
  • European Network: The “Erasmus+” EU Quality Label awarded for the Master’s in Translation at the FTI-EII

 

Background

Our School of International Interpreters (EII) was founded in September 1962, as a result of the collective efforts and ideas of a few visionaries: Max Drechsel (Rector of the Centre Universitaire de l’Etat, the future University of Mons-Hainaut – UMH), Pierre Houzeau de Lehaie (Rector of the Faculty of Engineering of Mons – FPMs) and Raymond Renard, the general driving force behind the project and its main designer. It was initially intended to be a sub-section of the Faculté économique du Hainaut. Courses were held in some of the Warocqué Institute’s classrooms and on the site of the FPMs. In 1965, the EII was legally merged with the Centre Universitaire de Mons and then almost fully merged, under its own regulations, with the University.

It didn’t take long for the EII to distinguish itself, and in 1969, after a lengthy investigation and having observers present at examination sessions it – the first French-speaking Belgian school – was accepted as a member of the CIUTI. From 1975, it became a member of the AIIC.

Gradually, it began to broaden its range of languages. In 1962, only German, English and Russian were on the curriculum. Dutch (which was strangely missing when the school was founded), Spanish and Italian were soon added, followed by Danish in the 1980s. In 2015, Arabic and Chinese completed the number of languages in the compulsory “core combinations”.

In the 1990s, the Ministry of Education embarked on a colossal overhaul of non-university higher education, and in 1996 the EII was forced to become part of the newly-created Haute Ecole du Hainaut, to be known as the “Catégorie Traduction et Interprétation” (Translation and Interpreting Category). Despite its visceral attachment to its roots, the institution did not give up its historic name. The name “Ecole d’Interprètes Internationaux” (School of International Interpreters) and its distinctive logo remained alongside those of its new partners (united a little later under the new name of Haute Ecole de la Communauté française du Hainaut). Despite this, the special links between the EII and the former UMH were preserved thanks to Article 103 of the “Hautes Ecoles” decree.

At the end of the 20th century, Europe embarked on a structural reform to integrate its higher education system, both university and non-university, based on the 3-5-8 scheme advocated by the Bologna Decree. The people of Mons jumped at the chance: at the start of the 2004-2005 academic year, the EII switched to the ‘3+2’ system (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees) – a historic achievement!

In January 2008, it finally became a full member of the University of Mons-Hainaut (UMH) as the 5th Faculty. A year later, following the merger of UMH and the FPMs, the EII became what it is today: one of the 7 faculties of UMONS.

Now known as the “Faculty of Translation and Interpretation – School of International Interpreters”, the institution was founded in 1962 and today offers a Bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpretation in 15 different language combinations, a Master’s degree in Interpretation, a Master’s degree in Translation with research, teaching and specialist focuses, as well as an Advanced Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, a Certificate of Teaching for Upper Secondary Education (AESS), a Certificate of Teaching for Higher Education (CAPAES), two Graduate Certificates in Translation and/or Interpreting in a Legal Context, and doctoral training in languages, literature and translation studies. Its alumni network is sprawling, with former graduates entering a wide range of professions in Belgium and around the world. This enables the FTI-EII to closely monitor the development of the vast number of career opportunities awaiting its graduates.