03 December 2024
Bilbao Campus San Sebastian Campus
This year the International Day of the Basque Language is 75 years old and the University of Deusto, as it does every year, has joined this celebration with several activities with which it wanted to express its firm will to contribute to the advancement of the Basque language in all university areas. A commitment that the university community has made visible by forming a large human mosaic with the letters EUS.
Students, faculty and research staff thus staged their desire to learn, teach and research in Basque and to communicate in Basque on this special day and for the remaining 364 days of the year. Because, despite the steps taken in the linguistic normalization of the Basque language in university life, support is still needed to “put it in value to the world”.
50 years of the Institute of Basque Studies
The University of Deusto has been an active agent in the path taken by the Basque language in recent decades. To this end, it has made use of various structures and plans, and one of the most significant instruments has been the Institute of Basque Studies, which is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The celebration of this anniversary was one of the central events of the Day of the Basque Language. At the commemorative event, Rector Juan José Etxeberria recalled the role of its promoters, Professors Ramón Areitio and Andrés Eliseo de Mañaricua y Nuere, who in 1947, together with the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, created the Department of Biscayan Studies.
They were later joined by Patxi Altuna and José Ramón Scheifler... and Rosa Miren Pagola, Santi Larrazabal, Nerea Mujika and Elixabete Perez Gaztelu, the latter of whom were present at the event and who between them have dedicated themselves to promoting research and higher education on Basque subjects, to disseminating the Basque language and culture, and to demonstrating that the University of Deusto has a Basque culture that is very much its own. Words of the Rector.
In addition, throughout the day, a contest of sayings was developed by Instagram and another contest to link songs and albums with their authors. This initiative, as well as a concert by Andoni Oilokiegi, took place in San Sebastian, campus where every hour there was ringing of bells with the chant “Euskal Herrian euskaraz”. The commemorative activities will be completed on December 5 with the event entitled “Dissemination of knowledge in Basque, editing Wikipedia”, which will take place in San Sebastian at 11:00 a.m. in the Forum Hall.
Finally, within the framework of this celebration, on November 27th, the University of Deusto and the PUNTUEUS Foundation signed an agreement to promote initiatives that help to increase the presence of the Basque language on the Internet and encourage the use of the .EUS domain among its faculty, administration and services staff, students and alumni.
2024 Annual Report: The University of Deusto and the Basque Language
The University has taken advantage of this International Day to publish its first annual report on Deusto and the Basque language. This document contains a follow-up of the results obtained throughout the year and pending challenges in the strengthening of the Basque language in teaching, research and social collaboration. In relation to progress in university studies, the center has doubled the number of credits offered in Basque in undergraduate degrees, which has gone from 2,456 (2013-2014) to 4,334 (2023-2024) and the challenge is to expand 200 more credits. In addition, it is noteworthy that, according to the latest data, 34% of the teaching staff is qualified to teach in Basque.
On the other hand, languages, in general, and Basque, in particular, are a specific field of research at the University. In this sense, there are many ongoing projects related to the sociolinguistic analysis of Basque bilingualism and strategies for sociolinguistic activation. In relation to the use of Basque in research, 10.9% of books and 1.8% of articles are in this language. More data on academic production in Basque: 529 Undergraduate Final Projects, 11 Master's Final Projects and 2 doctoral theses in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Deusto's social commitment and its collaboration with various agents to promote the Basque language is unquestionable. It has agreements with key institutions such as Euskaltzaindia, the Etxepare Institute and Euskararen Etxea, and participates in projects such as Otoi.eus and the Inpakta magazine, which disseminates research in Basque and English, without forgetting its collaboration with the Basque Government on Basque language indicators and other linguistic initiatives. Finally, every year the University actively participates in cultural and academic events such as the Korrika 2024 or the Basque Book and Record Fair in Durango, as well as organizing conferences and round tables on Basque culture and language. Annual Report 2024.
