CertiLingua

The school became a CertiLingua school with the class of 2016-17. The CertiLingua Excellence Label for multilingual, European, and international skills is a certificate that is granted together with the ‘Abitur’. Globalization and progressive European integration require a special ability of young people to be able to meet the demands of linguistic and cultural diversity as well as adapt to mobility in the context of personal life, training, and career.

CertiLingua opens up new possibilities

The Excellence Label is awarded to pupils who have passed the ‘Abitur’ with special qualifications from a European/an international point of view. These include a high level of competence in two foreign languages (level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference), bilingual competence, as well as proof to act in a European and international context. The CertiLingua Excellence Label is intended to enable pupils easier access to internationally oriented study courses or enable career prospects in a European and international context.

CertiLingua: A European project

The Excellence Label was initiated by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia together with the Netherlands and developed further in cooperation with other European partner countries. Currently, there are more than 200 schools in Europe participating in the project. The first graduates were awarded the CertiLingua Excellence Label at the end of the 2007-08 school year. The close cooperation between all partners and the intensive exchange between the European schools guarantee consistently high standards in all partner countries, thus bestowing the special excellence of CertiLingua.

Advantages of CertiLingua

Promotion of multilingualism, intercultural learning, and international cooperation

Facilitating access to international study programs and international working environments

Exemption from language tests that are often required for admission to international higher education bodies

Promotion and development of existing binational agreements (e.g., AbiBac)

Sustainable school development and honoring of schools with excellent performance according to the demands of the European Council and the European Commission within the context of multilingualism, language competence, bilingualism, European & international management, and active citizenship

Monitoring of the program through additional language tests offered by the school (CAE in English, DELF in French)

Participation

Class 9 students who are interested can register with the coordinators of the CertiLingua project at the end of the school year. They then proceed to gather all the qualifications over the next three years in an individual portfolio and in cooperation with the coordinators.

Further information