The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
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Anje Dijk has a degree in linguistics. She worked as a teacher of Dutch and Dutch as a second language for 15 years at several educational institutions. She was also employed by the National Institute for Curriculum Development SLO in the Netherlands. She has developed innovative teaching materials and worked as advisor and project leader on educational development projects and educational innovations. She has written several course books for Dutch as a second language. In 2000 she became organisational advisor for several profit and not-for-profit institutions and in 2004 she became Director of the Language Centre of the University of Groningen.
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Christine Engelen has degrees in French, Education and European Studies as well as an MBA. She started her professional career as a French teacher at the University of Antwerp's language centre and was also involved in starting up the centre's tailor-made language courses and projects. For many years, she combined teaching with materials development, didactic training and project coordination. In 2000 she became the head of the language centre and went on to realise the successful fusion of three University of Antwerp centres. In 2005 she became the Training & Organisation Director of the university's new language institute, Linguapolis.Liesbet Korebrits is a graduate in Dutch Language and Culture and has many years of experience in developing and teaching Dutch and communication courses for a wide range of institutions and target groups. As a developer and consultant she helped set up the official state exams in Dutch as a second language, as well as a number of language learning methods. In 2002 she became Director of Radboud in'to Languages, the centre for language and communication at Radboud University Nijmegen, a position she has also held at partner institute Wageningen in'to Languages since 2012. Liesbet Korebrits is also on the boards of several university bodies.
Abstract
This article assesses the current trends in language centre (LC) management in the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking Belgium. Twenty-five LCs are united under the umbrella of NUT, which offers its members the possibility to meet and discuss concrete professional subjects. Solutions, strategies and decisions emphasise the importance of national organisations of LCs like NUT, whose management wants to stimulate transparent communication on business policies and management experience between LCs. NUT is constantly looking for ways to transform ideas into innovative products and services, or to improve existing ones. Internationalisation is a hot topic, and universities primarily base their language policy on English and Dutch. University LCs could play an important role in making recommendations to policymakers – they test proficiency, offer remedial training, and provide translation and editing services. The importance of other languages is also an issue. Although multilingualism, especially proficiency in a third (or fourth) language in addition to one's mother tongue and English, deserves to be encouraged, available budgets are shrinking. Furthermore, LCs sometimes have to implement policy that is diametrically opposed to their own vision, and opportunities for cooperation are not yet being exploited to the full. University LCs are flexible, dynamic, independent entities that often behave differently from the faculty or service they are affiliated to – LCs can be seen as small businesses within a larger academic context.
NUT LCs also cooperate with each other in the fields of mutual quality assurance and innovation. Other exciting projects include interuniversity cooperation in the area of language testing and partnerships with Dutch as a Second Language departments and with publishers of teaching materials and digital language tests.
All three authors of this article are members of the board of NUT and directors of LCs (two in the Netherlands and one in Belgium). The article is based on their experiences as directors and on the trends they have observed within NUT.
About the authors
Anje Dijk has a degree in linguistics. She worked as a teacher of Dutch and Dutch as a second language for 15 years at several educational institutions. She was also employed by the National Institute for Curriculum Development SLO in the Netherlands. She has developed innovative teaching materials and worked as advisor and project leader on educational development projects and educational innovations. She has written several course books for Dutch as a second language. In 2000 she became organisational advisor for several profit and not-for-profit institutions and in 2004 she became Director of the Language Centre of the University of Groningen.
Christine Engelen has degrees in French, Education and European Studies as well as an MBA. She started her professional career as a French teacher at the University of Antwerp's language centre and was also involved in starting up the centre's tailor-made language courses and projects. For many years, she combined teaching with materials development, didactic training and project coordination. In 2000 she became the head of the language centre and went on to realise the successful fusion of three University of Antwerp centres. In 2005 she became the Training & Organisation Director of the university's new language institute, Linguapolis.
Liesbet Korebrits is a graduate in Dutch Language and Culture and has many years of experience in developing and teaching Dutch and communication courses for a wide range of institutions and target groups. As a developer and consultant she helped set up the official state exams in Dutch as a second language, as well as a number of language learning methods. In 2002 she became Director of Radboud in'to Languages, the centre for language and communication at Radboud University Nijmegen, a position she has also held at partner institute Wageningen in'to Languages since 2012. Liesbet Korebrits is also on the boards of several university bodies.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Narratives and accounts: “Post-crisis” narration in annual company reports
- Connectedness through a strong form of TBLT, classroom implementation of the CEFR, cyclical learning, and learning-oriented assessment
- Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course
- Oral communication in the framework of cognitive fluency: Developing and testing spoken Russian within the TORFL system
- First- and final-semester non-native students in an English-medium university: Judgments of their speech by university peers
- The European Language Portfolio and Languages for Specific Purposes: A project to develop “can do” descriptors focused on students' interests and motivation
- Translating the CercleS European Language Portfolio into Portuguese for plurilingual development in a Community of Practice
- The role of research in teaching-oriented institutions: A case study of university language centres in Finland
- The changing world of higher education: Where do language centres fit in?
- Mind the gap between form and function. Teaching pragmatics with the British sitcom in the foreign language classroom
- Having fun in the classroom: Subtitling activities
