UNOSEL

Union Nationale des Organisations de Séjours Educatifs, Linguistiques, et des Ecoles de Langues

Founded thirty years ago, today UNOSEL has a membership of seventy professional organisations. The aim of the Association is to promote and inform the public of the professionalism of its members, to develop consumer confidence by giving consumers genuine guarantees of service, and to keep its members abreast of new developments in the profession. The commitment of the members of UNOSEL is embodied in the European Standard on Language tours, and the UNOSEL quality charter.

What does UNOSEL represent ?

For 30 years, UNOSEL has been active in the development of educational provision for young people and adults. It is the largest federation of language schools and of language and educational tour organisers.

In 2009 UNOSEL represents 55 000 individual language tours, 450 000 people taking part in educational tours, 70 000 educational tours for children, and 18 000 people taking part in language lessons in France, ie some 1 040 000 teaching / learning hours.

UNOSEL is a member of FELCA, the Federation of Educational and Language Consultant Associations, which brings together nationally based language federations.

UNOSEL sits on the NF-Service Special Committee (“Comité Particulier�) for Language Study Tour Organisers.

As an expert in the field, UNOSEL took an active part in the creation of the European Standard for language tours and language courses under the aegis of the European Standards Committee (CEN – Comité Européen de Normalisation).

Members of UNOSEL are a mixture of large and small structures, companies or non-profit making organisations who, within the association, all have an equal say in decision making. For operational purposes, members work on five committees: Educational Tours for Schools, Language Study Holidays for Young People, Language Study Holidays for Adults, Language Schools, Educational Tours for Young People and Adults. These committees meet very regularly to examine and discuss each sector’s problems, to invite experts in the field for their opinions, thereby making progress in the quality of each sector.

These committees are UNOSEL’s life blood. It is within them that the majority of decisions are taken, and the Federation’s positions on different matters are decided. They also provide a forum for members to exchange information and ideas about the way their activity is evolving and developing.

The areas in which UNOSEL is present :

Foreign language learning :

·    For young people : language holidays in France and abroad.

·    For students and individuals : foreign language learning in France, language courses in France and abroad, preparation for examinations …

·    For professional people :

-          In foreign language training centres in France : language training courses, course modules, individual training requirements, DIF, CIF …

-          Abroad : total immersion in language schools, one to one staying with the teacher, specialist courses, English for business, group courses, mini-group courses, DIF …

·    French as a foreign language : French language courses, studies of the French economy, French culture, and every day life in France

·    Educational tours : Short stay tours organised by schools and educational institutes by teachers in France and abroad

Educational :

·         For young people : language holidays in France and abroad :

                Camps and holiday camps, walking tours, itinerant tours, educational tours, cultural tours, sports    and scientific tours, nature study tours, themed tours and creative leisure tours …

·         For adults in France and abroad : walking tours, cultural tours, holidays, flying ….

·         For schools : classes for all seasons, autumn, winter ; nature classes in the countryside, discovering the natural environment, creative arts, science, courses in culture and the arts, classes outside the normal school environment….

UNOSEL’s Mission Statement :

·    UNOSEL was founded to advise and protect consumers of language study holiday and educational tours for young people and adults by ensuring that their expectations were satisfied. Among other things, this pre-supposes that the client deals with a professional organisation that complies with current French legislation.

·    UNOSEL helps the profession to develop, defends its interests and ensures that it is properly represented in France, in Europe and throughout the world

·    UNOSEL maintains regular contact with prescribers, ministries, tourist information offices, local authorities, multi-national companies, professional organisations, parents’ associations, and consumer organisations. These contacts enable us to be aware of each others’ problems and to contribute to finding possible solutions.

·    UNOSEL is a strategic and technological observatory over the language learning business. This enables us to collect important information about markets, products and consumer expectations.

·    UNOSEL encourages the development of relations between existing institutions to attain common objectives.

Website : www.unosel.org