Germany - EMI programme
In early 2022, Edinburgh College began working with the German Academic Exchange service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)) to provide specialist English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses for groups of German academics from universities across Germany.
The four-year programme, with two intakes per year, sees Edinburgh College welcome cohorts of lecturers from German universities to Edinburgh to study on an intensive one-week programme, aimed at enhancing the ability and confidence of participants in using English as a means through which to deliver classes in a higher education setting.
The courses are delivered at two levels: a lower level for those with an upper intermediate level of English, who are new to EMI and who want to prepare themselves to begin delivering classes through the medium of English; and an upper level, for those with more advanced English, with some experienced of EMI and who want to enhance their existing skills and learn new strategies for teaching through the medium of English.
Both courses include sessions on Intercultural communication, Language for online participation and communication, language for seminars, questioning techniques, academic vocabulary development, language for 1-1 interaction and providing effective feedback. Through micro-teaching sessions, a key focus of the course is allowing participants the opportunity to try out new techniques and receive constructive feedback on their practice to support their ongoing development.
The success of these courses shows Edinburgh College’s capacity to deliver specialist English Language programmes designed for those working in a Higher Education setting and demonstrates the range of specialist expertise the College has within its English Language and Teacher training team.
The strength of the ongoing partnership between Edinburgh College and DAAD (the world’s largest organisation dedicated to international exchange among students and academics) is testament to Edinburgh College’s commitment to internationalisation and to being a trusted and reliable institutional partner that can effectively deliver large scale international projects and, in the process, support its partners to realise their long-term strategic ambitions.
