Brussels, 13/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has launched a new drive to encourage more European universities to offer high-quality courses for students who want to work as translators. As part of this, the Commission is expanding its “European Master's in Translation” (EMT) university network, which was set up last year in response to a growing shortage of properly qualified translators in the job market. Universities wishing to use the EMT label have their courses assessed by translation experts, who are mostly members of the existing network. “In many countries, anyone can claim to be a translator without any guarantee of professional competence. The long-term aim of the EMT project is to raise the standard of translator training; a course carrying the EMT label is recognised as being one of the best in the field”, explained Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. Set up in 2009, the EMT network aims to create a quality label for Masters level translation training programmes in an effort to expand the employment prospects of students and provide the skilled personnel required by public institutions. (I.L./transl.fl)