Adaptation to the EHEA in the training of professionals in automatic natural language processing

Globalisation has meant an exponential increase in multilingual communication. The technological advances associated with the democratisation of access to information and global knowledge in a multitude of languages require new multilingual instruments that enable us to manage and organise the flow of written and audiovisual documents that are being produced. In order to meet this rising need of multilingual professionals specialised in language training for applications in the different areas of the language industry, we must propose an advanced, eminently multidisciplinary and trans-linguistic education. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must design new teaching strategies that enable us to manage the diversity of initial educational levels and contact languages. General area of interest of this innovation The goal of the innovation presented in this article was to improve the management of diversity (both linguistic and initial educational levels) of students in a European Master’s in automatic natural language processing (NLP), but beyond the speciality in which it is applied, it might be of interest to any professors who in their respective fields must confront interdisciplinary or multilingual diversity in the classroom, and both manage and foster it. 1. Objectives The impact of the new information and communication technologies in today’s society is linked to widespread access to multilingual information sources that also enable contents generated locally to be disseminated worldwide. This is true to such an extent INNOVATIVE TEACHING EXPERIENCES AT THE UAB IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMAN SCIENCES 209 2b espai europeuAnglès.qxd:titulacions-copia 21/07/09 10:22 Página 209