A Multilingual Model of Higher Education: University of Bolzano
Author(s):
Lynn Mastellotto (presenting / submitting) Renata Zanin (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2016
Network:
31. LEd – Network on Language and Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

31 SES 13 B, Planning and Policies in Education

Paper Session

Time:
2016-08-26
13:30-15:00
Room:
OB-H1.12
Chair:
Hanne Brandt

Contribution

Internationalisation in Higher Education is often construed along economic lines as the development of strategic partnerships with private enterprises or along political lines as the internationalisation of educational policy and the promotion of student mobility across national borders. Whilst these are key aspects of internationalisation, the complex process through which ideas meet, intermingle, contest, converge, and are communicated across horizons ranging from the local to the global signals the importance of the socio-cultural and academic dimensions of internationalisation in HE.  De Wit (2002, 2011) suggests that these various rationales for internationalisation are not mutually exclusive but rather intersect, overlap and vary over time.

 The central role language and culture play in generating and disseminating knowledge, the core mission of universities, highlights the need for a more systematic plurilingual paradigm in curricular design and delivery in higher education, one that reflects the mobilities of knowers and of knowledge in the twenty-first century (Smit and Dafouz: 2012).  A transversal, multilingual model of education, embedded in both the purposes and processes of knowledge-making and knowledge-sharing, can support the creation of an international, cross-disciplinary community of learners and researchers engaged in building transnational networks of knowledge.

The experimentation of a new language model at the Free University of Bolzano is instructive as it helps define what constitutes a quality initiative in fostering language skills and scientific language competences in higher education (Fandrych 2015). The need to develop university-wide teaching practices that are "language sensitive" emerges as a significant outcome of integrating content and language in higher education. The lessons learned through the implementation of FUB’s multilingual initiative represent a contribution that goes far beyond the local context of the multilingual province of Südtirol / Alto Adige, offering a paradigm for rethinking how internationalisation can be conceived and implemented in HE in Europe.

Method

Our paper analyses the implementation in 2015 of a new language model at the Free University of Bolzano (FUB) as a case study for multilingual and intercultural higher education. Founded in 1997, FUB is a small university with a big vision, aiming to excel among small European institutions of HE in offering quality programmes with strong links to the local community but with broad social relevance and impact. Internationalisation is at the core of its educational mission and is supported through a transversal commitment to trilingualism (Italian-German-English) in the delivery of academic programmes across all five of its faculties (Veronesi and Nickenig: 2009). Unlike multilingual universities modelled on the delivery of education primarily in the national language with some English-medium instruction added on (van Leeuwen: 2004), FUB is plurilingual by design: students follow language-acquisition courses to achieve functional fluency in their L2 and L3 whilst attending academic modules in L1/L2/L3 which integrate content and language (ICLHE). FUB also offers opportunities for dynamic intercultural encounters outside the classroom through the diverse languages of the administration, the research community, the labour market, and the local environment. The paper will present the design of the new language strategy implemented at FUB in 2015 within a critical reflection on the interrelationships of knowledge, culture, and language in the internationalisation of HE. The realities of implementing a systemic multilingual education will be examined through an analysis of the three-pillared approach to internationalization at FUB: basic language courses for students up to B2 (CEFR); specialist and academic language courses for students at C1 (CEFR); training on content and language integrated learning (ICLHE) for lecturers and researchers.

Expected Outcomes

Although the internationalisation of the curriculum and of teaching and learning processes (‘internationalisation at home’) are contextualised by and filtered through the specific internal dynamics of the Free University of Bolzano and its links to local, regional, and national networks, this case has broader relevance in the European context. In recent years, there is a growing awareness that programmes for the internationalisation of curricula in European universities run the risk of enforcing a scientific monolingualism. There is thus a pressing need for the design and implementation of alternative scientific models of multilingual higher education. Empirical studies on multilingualism and intercultural communications skills in HE show two problematic trends. First, the English competences of many second/foreign-language learners in English-medium programmes are insufficient as they often struggle to reach B2-level of the CEFR in their active communication skills; this leaves them ill-prepared to meet the challenges of a curriculum that integrates content and language. Second, the language competences of international students often fall below the B2-level in the national language of their host country; moreover, international students do not always enrol in language courses offered in the national language and, as a consequence, can experience isolation from their social environment over the course of their studies (Fandrych 2012). These two troubling trends indicate the need for greater differentiation of learners by level group and for introducing a greater range of language courses linked to the scientific content of students’ degree courses. This calls for a scientific paradigm that makes use of CLIL methodology across disciplines in delivering curricular content in an additional language in tertiary education.

References

De Houwer, Annick/Wilton Antje (Eds.). English in Europe Today. Sociocultural and educational perspectives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V., 2011. de Wit, Hans. An Introduction to Higher Education Internationalisation. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 2006. ------. “Internationalisation of Higher Education in Europe: Assessment, Trends and Issues.” http://nvao.com/page/downloads/Internationalisation_of_Higher_Education_in_Europe_DEF_december_2010.pdf ----. “Globalisation and Internationalisation of Higher Education.” Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC) 8:2 Barcelona: 2011. Fandrych, Christian/Sedlazcek. “I need German in my life” Eine empirische Studie zur Sprachsituation in englischsprachigen Studiengängen in Deutschland. Tübingen, Stauffenburg-Verlag: 2012. Fandrych,Christian. Mehrsprachigkeit an Hochschulen im deutschsprachigen Raum: sprachenpolitische und sprachendidaktische Herausforderungen. In Drumbl, H./Hornung A. (Eds.) IDT 2013 Hauptvorträge. Bolzano-Bozen: BU Press: 2015, 93-126. Knapp, Annelie/Agiado, Karin (Eds.). Foreign Languages in Higher Education. Opportunities and Challenges for the Acquisition of Knowledge. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2015. Knight, Jane. Higher Education in Turmoil. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008. -----. Higher Education: Crossing Borders. Paris: COL/UNESCO, 2006. Smit, Ute and Emma Dafouz. “Integrating content and language in higher education: An introduction to English-medium policies, conceptual issues and research practices across Europe.” In ICLHE: Gaining Insights into English-Medium Instruction at European Universities. AILA Review, Vol. 25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2012, 1-12. Unterberger, Barbara. “English-medium programmes at Austrian business faculties. Integrating Content and Language: Meeting the challenge of a Multilingual Higher Education.” In ICLHE: Gaining Insights into English-Medium Instruction at European Universities. Eds. Ute Smit and Emma Dafouz. AILA Review. Volume 25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2012, 80-100. Van Leeuwen, Charles. “Multilingual universities in Europe: Models and realities.” Integrating Content and Language: Meeting the challenge of a Multilingual Higher Education. Ed. Robert Wilkinson. Maastricht: 2004, 576-584. Veronesi, Daniela and Christoph Nickenig. Bi- and Multilingual Universities: European Perspectives and Beyond. Conference Proceedings: Bozen-Bolzano: BU Press, 2009.

Author Information

Lynn Mastellotto (presenting / submitting)
University of Bolzano
Faculty of Education
Bressanone
Renata Zanin (presenting)
Free University of Bolzano
faculty of education
Bressanone

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