Language policies and internationalization of higher education

ABSTRACT

In the context of education for the global world, internationalization is a strategy and a goal of higher education (HE). In many cases, the conditions for carrying out internationalization are neglected in detriment of its economic and financial impact. The definition of appropriate language policies and their relation to the organization and functioning of institutions at all levels (teaching, research, transfer, governance, etc.) are constitutive aspects of internationalization. This definition considers the need to promote mobility and inclusion of different actors in HE and the need for competitive affirmation at local, national and international levels. Not only the conception of language policies must be clear, but the concept of language must be revisited within its relation to acquisition, construction and dissemination of knowledge in an ecological perspective of multilingual practices in HE, emphasizing that there is no science without languages and without linguistic diversity. In a contextually anchored complexity management framework, the relationship between language policies (or lack thereof) and pedagogical and methodological innovations is referred. This text emphasizes that language policies are essential in internationalization of HE. To achieve this purpose, a new concept of language and an integrated approach of language and knowledge/science are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Language policies
• internationalization
• linguistic diversity
• mobility/ inclusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Manuel Célio Conceição is an Associate professor with tenure at Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Algarve. He is Member of the Arts and Communication Research Center – CIAC, President ex-officio of the European Language Council, Member of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities – EASSH, Former pro-rector of University of Algarve, Former Dean of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Member of the board of the Osservatorio di terminologie e politiche linguistiche (OTPL) of the Catholic University of Milan and Member of the Scientific Committee of The Panlatin Network for Terminology – REALITER.

Notes

1 Under the European project LANGUA (www.lanqua.eu), we defined this in detail in the framework of the working group on intercultural communication which we coordinated.

2 Caruso (2019) presents a set of case studies concerning multilingual competence in higher education and the impact of its use on functioning in different situations (teaching, research, reception of international students, etc.).

3 Irrespective of other categorizations, for the purposes of analysing needs within the organizational and functional structure of higher education, the concept of international student may be included in the concept of non-traditional student (cf. Conceição 2018b, 11).

4 www.magicc.eu

5 https://sepia.unil.ch/magicc/