English as Language in Global Education
“We
understand that economics is a discipline, like most scientific fields,
where the research is published in English,” the petition read, in
apologetic tones. But it declared that it was unacceptable for a native
French professor to teach standard courses to French-speaking students
in the adopted tongue of English.
In
the shifting universe of global academia, English is becoming as
commonplace as creeping ivy and mortarboards. In the last five years,
the world’s top business schools and universities have been pushing to
make English the teaching tongue in a calculated strategy to raise
revenues by attracting more international students and as a way to
respond to globalization.
Business
universities are driving the trend, partly because changes in
international accreditation standards in the late 1990s required them to
include English-language components. But English is also spreading to
the undergraduate level, with some South Korean universities offering up
to 30 percent of their courses in the language. The former president of
Korea University in Seoul sought to raise that share to 60 percent, but
ultimately was not re-elected to his post in December.
In
Madrid, business students can take their admissions test in English for
the elite Instituto de Empresa and enroll in core courses for a
master’s degree in business administration in the same language. The
Lille School of Management in France stopped considering English a
foreign language in 1999, and now half the postgraduate programs are
taught in English to accommodate a rising number of international
students.
Over
the last three years, the number of master’s programs offered in
English at universities with another host language has more than
doubled, to 3,300 programs at 1,700 universities, according to David A.
Wilson, chief executive of the Graduate Management Admission Council, an
international organization of leading business schools that is based in
McLean, Va.
“We
are shifting to English. Why?” said Laurent Bibard, the dean of M.B.A.
programs at Essec, a top French business school in a suburb of Paris
that is a fertile breeding ground for chief executives.
“It’s
the language for international teaching,” he said. “English allows
students to be able to come from anyplace in the world and for our
students — the French ones — to go everywhere.”
This
year the university is celebrating its 100th anniversary in its adopted
tongue. Its new publicity film debuted in English and French. Along one
of the main roads leading into Paris loomed a giant blue billboard
boasting of the anniversary in French and, in smaller letters, in
English.
Essec
has also taken advantage of the increased revenue that foreign students
— English-speaking ones — can bring in. Its population of foreign
students has leapt by 38 percent in four years, to 909 today out of a
student body of 3,700.
The
tuition for a two-year master’s degree in business administration is
19,800 euros for European Union citizens, and 34,000 euros for non-EU
citizens.
“The
French market for local students is not unlimited,” said Christophe N.
Bredillet, the associate dean for the Lille School of Management’s
M.B.A. and postgraduate programs. “Revenue is very important, and in
order to provide good services, we need to cover our expenses for the
library and research journals. We need to cover all these things with a
bigger number of students so it’s quite important to attract
international students.”
With
the jump in foreign students, Essec now offers 25 percent of its 200
courses in English. Its ambition is to accelerate the English offerings
to 50 percent in the next three years.
Santiago
Iñiguez de Ozoño, dean of the Instituto de Empresa, argues that the
trend is a natural consequence of globalization, with English
functioning as Latin did in the 13th century as the lingua franca most
used by universities.
“English
is being adapted as a working language, but it’s not Oxford English,”
he said. “It’s a language that most stakeholders speak.” He carries out
conversation on a blog, deanstalk.net, in English.
But
getting students to feel comfortable speaking English in the classroom
is easier said than done. When younger French students at Essec start a
required course in organizational analysis, the atmosphere is marked by
long, uncomfortable silences, said Alan Jenkins, a management professor
and academic director of the executive M.B.A. program.
“They
are very good on written tasks, but there’s a lot of reticence on oral
communication and talking with the teacher,” Dr. Jenkins said, adding
that he used role-playing to encourage students to speak. He also
refuses to speak in French. “I have to force myself to say, ‘Can you
give me that in English?’ ”
Officials
at Ewha Womans University in Seoul are also aware that they face a
difficult task at the first stage of their Global 2010 project, which
will require new students to take four classes in English, two under the
tutelage of native English-speaking professors. The 120-year-old
university has embarked on a hiring spree to attract 50 foreign
professors.
At
the beginning, “teaching courses in English may have less efficiency or
effectiveness in terms of knowledge transfer than those courses taught
in Korean,” said Anna Suh, program manager for the university’s office
of global affairs, who said that students eventually see the benefits.
“Our aim for this kind of program is to prepare and equip our students
to be global leaders in this new era of internationalization.”
The
Lille management school is planning to open a satellite business school
program next fall in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the working
language will also be in English.
“Internationally,
the competition is everywhere,” Dr. Bredillet said. “For a master’s in
management, I’m competing with George Washington University. I’m
competing with some programs in Germany, Norway and the U.K. That’s why
we’re delivering the curriculum in English.”
by : The New York Times
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