Development and Promotion

The Development and Promotion Office's mission is to promote our expertise in language teaching and acquisition, in research, in testing and evaluation, and in language planning, both across Canada and abroad. It therefore works to heighten the University of Ottawa's and OLBI's reputations as centres of excellence for analysis, research and innovation serving university communities, as well as public, private and paragovernmental agencies and organizations.

The Office also acts as a broker for Canadian institutions to market Canadian products and services and to share best practices across the country and around the world in the area of bilingualism and official languages. As well, the Office administers an array of OLBI and University of Ottawa initiatives, including:

• Summer language institute Destination Clic, the French intensive program for Francophones living outside Quebec;
• Summer University for FLS/FSL Teachers;
• English Intensive Program (EIP);
• French Intensive Program (Programme de français intensif PIF);
• Courses and teaching programs offered on contract;
• Specialized, made-to-measure programs, like intensive training for language teachers from other countries.

We also enter into formal partnerships with Canadian and foreign institutions interested in issues surrounding bilingualism and linguistic diversity. For example, we are proud to have entered into a cooperation agreement with the Council of Europe's European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML).

Government of Canada: Appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages

Dr. Richard Clément, OLBI Director and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts, appeared before the Standing Committee on May 1, 2012, during the consultations on the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality 2008-2013. He showed how OLBI and the University of Ottawa can be of significant assistance to the Government of Canada in its leadership role with respect to official languages in Canada.