Darko Matovac, PhD / Lector and Research Associate, Croaticum, Department for Croatian Language and Literature, University of Zagreb

Croaticum is the oldest and biggest institution that teaches Croatian as a second, foreign and hereditary language. One of Croaticum’s foundational and long-term missions is to actively help Croatian communities outside of Croatia to continually teach Croatian and stay in contact with Croatian culture. We are excited and proud to be offered the opportunity to participate in this project, and to add UBC to the list of universities with which we have a working relationship. We believe that cooperating with such quality partners, we can reach our common goal of strengthening the Croatian diaspora in British Columbia and enlarging the visibility of the Croatian language abroad.

Ana Bačić M. Ed. / Coordinator of Croatian Language Programs in Canada, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Croatia

We are excited to provide BC high school students both an avenue to study Croatian and obtain an University of Zagreb certificate. We find often in the diaspora there is a lack of Croatian language instruction for high school students. This collaboration will address this gap and will position BC with Ontario where Croatian has been taught in high schools since 1988.

David Gramling PhD / Professor and Head, Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern Studies, UBC

Less commonly taught languages like Croatian are no less important to us here in Canada and at UBC than are German, Spanish, or Mandarin. They house countless generations’ knowledge, experience, and meaning, and we cannot do without them. We in the Department, and in the Faculty of Arts, are eager to embark on this partnership, to embolden our commitment to engage and study Southeastern Europe in all its complexity, and to strengthen Croatian-speaking communities and opportunities in British Columbia.