WHY ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDUCATION

1
SECOND UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ETHICAL FORUM, 16
OCTOBER 2003 UBIQUITOUS ENGLISH? THE EXTREME
CASE OF FINLAND Anita Lehikoinen, Counsellor for
Education
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION FINLAND
2
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

• 20 29 HEIs - very national Finnish/Swedish-syste
  m
• First strategy for internationalisation of higher
  education in the late 1980s
• Quality of education (and research) and wider
  provision of education
• Student, teacher and staff exchanges were seen as
  tools for internationalisation
• Ambitious quantitative goals set for student
  exchanges ? articulated as a number of outgoing
  students

3
WHY ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDUCATION

• For the benefit of international exchange
  students and Finnish students
• Non-degree students could not be expected to know
  enough Finnish/Swedish
• Clearly different approach to foreign degree
  students - knowledge of Finnish/Swedish required
• First programmes in architecture, pulp and paper,
  Northern Studies, Finnish Culture, Design

4
UNIVERSITIES AND POLYTECHNICS? TWO DIFFERENT
APPROACHES

• Polytechnic system established in the 1990s
• Internationalisation one of the key objectives
  from the start
• Needs of the working life
• Competitive edge compared to universities
• Degree programmes in English
• A few programmes in German (with a little success)

5
SITUATION NOW

• 5 - 10 of all HE provision in English
• English-language courses in all universities and
  polytechnics
• Most programmes in business and technology,
  music, design, visual arts
• c. 350 programmes altogether
• Successful strategy attractiveness of Finnish
  higher education has increased
• Balance reached by universities
• Finland the little Britain in Continental Europe

6
NEW INTERNATIONALISATION STRATEGY

• Internationalisation as a response to
  globalisation
• Competition, labour market needs, demographic
  facts
• More foreign degree students, teachers, staff
• Programmes in the fields of HEIs expertise
• Integration of foreign students in Finnish
  society after studies
• Every European country has the same strategy -
  what is our niche?
• Fee-free education
• English-taught programmes
• Quality through international cooperation

7
THINGS TO (RE)CONSIDER

• Safeguarding HE provision in the national
  languages
• Language proficiency of teachers and students
• Integration of Finnish and international students
• Role of Finnish/Swedish for foreigners
• What will happen to mobility in the Bologna
  process? ? Competitiveness of Finnish HE
• Are we committing a linguistic suicide?

8
DEFINITELY NOT!