COMMUNITAS Platform

COMMUNITAS is a platform (forum) that has been exclusively created for community interpreters. COMMUNITAS helps to increase the visibility of full members of the association who are actively working in the field. It also aims to provide networking opportunities for community interpreters who have not completed a specialized university education, but do have professional experience and who have participated in and successfully completed a certain number of training programs for professionalization purposes.

Aims of the COMMUNITAS Platform

• making the field of community interpreting more visible within the nationwide professional association UNIVERSITAS Austria,
• organizing networking events to enable the exchange of experience among UNIVERSITAS and COMMUNITAS members,
• strengthening the position of community interpreters in their interaction with clients (NGOs, institutions, etc.), e.g. when negotiating working conditions and payment,
• offering community interpreters the opportunity to participate in the PR work of the association,
• offering and participating in training events for the purpose of quality assurance, and collaborating with educational institutions of Austrian universities.

Structure and Members

The COMMUNITAS platform has been incorporated into the UNIVERSITAS website as a forum, where members have the opportunity to briefly introduce themselves and network.
Who can join COMMUNITAS?

1. UNIVERSITAS members may join the COMMUNITAS platform for community interpreters by sending an informal email to the Community Interpreting Committee (AfCI): afci@universitas.org
2. Community interpreters who are not members of UNIVERSITAS may join if their application for a COMMUNITAS membership has been assessed by the AfCI and their statement of approval has been forwarded to and approved by the UNIVERSITAS Austria Board of Directors.

Requirements for Becoming a COMMUNITAS Member

Community interpreters who are not members of UNIVERSITAS Austria can apply for COMMUNITAS membership under the following conditions and by providing the following supporting documents:

Qualifications: proof of educational programs equivalent to 20 ECTS (1 ECTS corresponds to 25 hours of workload), which have to cover the following fields: professional ethics, interpreting strategies, specialized knowledge (e.g. law, medicine, psychotherapy, etc.);

Professional Experience: proof of 20 interpreting assignments in the field of community interpreting within the last three years (an informal list is sufficient; verification may be requested at random); testimonials or recommendations from clients may be submitted alternatively;

Sponsors: the signatures of two sponsors working in the field of community interpreting who have been members of either UNIVERSITAS or COMMUNITAS for at least two years; obligation to comply with the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct of UNIVERSITAS Austria and the annual payment of the COMMUNITAS membership fee of €82 (the respective payment request will be forwarded after admission).

Please e-mail your complete application to the AfCI (afci@universitas.org). The AfCI will examine the documents and forward the membership application for the COMMUNITAS platform together with their statement to the UNIVERSITAS Austria Board of Directors. Applications will be reviewed by the Board of Directors at a board meeting. The applicants will be informed about the outcome of the application by the office of the Association after the admission process is completed.

If the documents submitted are incomplete or insufficient, the AfCI will request any missing documents from the applicants. In this case, the application process for COMMUNITAS will be postponed until all supporting documents have been received.