Over 80 lecturers participate in international training workshop on EMI

Over 80 lecturers from University of Economics, University of Languages and International studies, USSH Hanoi, University of Law-VNU Hanoi, Hai Phong University, Hung Yen University of Science and Technology and many high schools in Hanoi joined the workshop. 

At the workshop, the lecturers were instructed to design an EMI course through different aspects, from surveying the purposes, capacities and output criteria of students to creating curricula and training modules. They were divided into groups and had discussions with each other.

English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is a strategy that has been applied at many universities where English is a foreign language. It began in the 2000s at European countries such as Sweden, Finland and New Zealand and then spread to Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan. Currently, 24 Vietnamese universities apply EMI in different areas and disciplines.

The teaching of EMI courses at Vietnamese universities, generally speaking, have not been funded until the last decade of the past century, with investments being limited to just a few institutions with strong international links or international-oriented disciplines such as foreign studies. The efforts to strengthen EMI in Vietnam still face difficulties, especially in social sciences and humanities. 

A lecturer from Faculty of Oriental Studies presents her ideas of an EMI course

Speaking at the workshop, Assoc. Prof. Dr Hoang Anh Tuan (USSH's Vice Rector) said, for the University, the EMI effort has been made for over the last decade, starting with the dream of internationalization of some programs that required more English (and other foreign languages) to a small number of courses given in English by lecturers of International Studies, Oriental Studies, etc. in the early days. By early 2018, there have been around fifty lecturers who were capable of offering the courses in English. Additionally, the USSH often hosts around five visiting professors every semester willing to teach selective courses to students.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Hoang Anh Tuan speaks at the workshop

The Vice Rector said to achieve the goal of enhancing the EMI, USSH needs to invest in it with new policies that encourage staff to deliver and inspire students to take EMI courses. In the past two years, there have been a number of sporadic regulations towards the EMI classes at the USSH, such as multiplication coefficient of 1.7 for lecturers, prioritizing international scholarships for EMI students, etc. Yet, the policies need to be more complete and systematic in order to promote the EMI system at the University.

EMI has potential at USSH considering the growing number of staff that have obtained international education and the increasing number of students whose English proficiency is relatively high. Also, Vietnamese parents invest in their children’s English proficiency at a young age; yet many of them wish to see their children take international education locally, instead of traveling abroad. EMI courses and EMI programs therefore have increased potential in the recent years.

The participants discussed with each other

The participants responded positively to the contents and meaning of this workshop