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EDUCATION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The influence of the English language as a medium of communication in research

has been dominant for a long period of time. Also, over the past 20 years the

tendency in higher education has been to teach in English, as an alternative for

teaching in one’s mother tongue. There are several unintended negative effects.

Increasingly, education offered in the English language is regarded as the

equivalent of internationalization, which results in a decreasing focus on other

foreign languages; in an insufficient focus on the quality of the English spoken by

students and teachers for whom English is not their native language; and thus

leading to a decline in the quality of education.

STUDYING OR STAYING ABROAD

A study or internship abroad as part of your home studies is often regarded as the

equivalent of internationalization. In particular, the European Commission’s

policy to stimulate this manner of mobility has contributed to that instrumental

approach over the last 25 years. It is questionable, however, whether the

imbalanced and oversimplified approach to mobility matches internationalization.

As well, it can be said that mobility is merely an instrument for promoting

internationalization and not a goal in itself. Mobility needs to be finely embedded

in the internationalization of education. It should be determined whether these

Internationalization in European higher education has developed over the last 20

years, from a marginal point of interest to a central factor—also called a

mainstreaming of internationalization. Indisputably, globalization of our societies

and economies has expanded the influence of competition and market processes

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