French university acquires licence for Simplified plain language course

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The University of Strasbourg TCLoc degree enables students to obtain both a university master’s degree and an International Professional Level Technical Communicator certificate awarded by Tekom, Europe’s largest association for technical communication. The university chose the Simplified course as the writing and editing component of its degree following a pilot last year. Simplified’s customisable course offers modules covering business writing skills and disciplines such as writing for Treating Customers Fairly outcomes, planning and structuring content, simplifying jargon, and writing in a compelling tone of voice. Around 30 students from North America, Europe, Africa and Australia are enrolled for the degree in 2018.

“We developed the TCLoc curriculum and learning materials along with leading experts in industry and academia, with the goal of teaching students tools, processes and practices that are independent of their working language,” says Dr Renate de la Paix, programme director and Head of Studies at the University of Strasbourg.

“We were attracted to the Simplified course because it has a successful track record across different markets and countries. It teaches best practices for clear communication that our students can successfully apply in any language or industry. The Simplified course not only offers writing tips, but also shows writers how to plan and structure a document, something that sets it apart from most other plain language courses,” said Dr de la Paix.

Candice Burt, partner at Simplified, said: “The TCLoc curriculum addresses a gap in the market for a comprehensive master’s course that enables technical communicators to take their skills to the next level. Our licensing agreement with the University of Strasbourg is a major step forward in our international growth strategy, which has already seen us expand into the UK and licence our content to Português Claro in Lisbon.”

Frances Gordon, partner at Simplified, added: “We’re seeing strong interest in our course across sub-Saharan Africa, which will be a major growth region for us in the months to come. Many organisations are using our training to enhance cross-cultural communication in multilingual settings, bridging the gap between people who are not first language English speakers and those that are.”