Page 19 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

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EU special training news
SPECIAL FEATURE
Politics plays a part in Spanish CLIL Foreign students fl ood

By Melanie Butler In Spain, the main nationally- all education should
funded language travel be Spanish medium WIKIPEDIA
Did you stay up all night? We’re programmes involve teacher only, while left-wing into the Netherlands
not talking about the elections training, as Rafael Rivas of Podemos attacks the
to the European parliament. the Spanish agents association bilingual streams in
We’re referring to the elections Aseproce told the audience state secondary.
for the Corts del País Valencià, at a recent London workshop Spanish education, By Matt Salusbury undergraduate degrees taught – down from €20,000 in 2000 to as Katholieke Universiteit Brabant
the devolved parliament in the sponsored by Language Cert. moreover, is a The “Anglicisation” of higher entirely in English, guarantee €15,000 per student in 2017. in Tilburg is now called Tilburg
Spanish province, which took This is good news for UK devolved matter, education in the Netherlands accommodation for all first-year With fewer under 25s in the University.
place on the same day as the trainers who may find themselves and understanding has caused a “code red crisis.” students. Dutch population, the only way to The petition to Parliament is in
recent national elections. locked out of the market for the market means So begins a petition to the Classroom space is also a ensure continued growth is through response to proposed amendments
One Valencian newspaper Erasmus-funded training courses understanding the Dutch Parliament, sent in April problem. The University of foreign recruitment. University to the Education Act, which
commented that if the left-wing in the event of a no deal Brexit, complex political and signed by 196 prominent Amsterdam erected a giant of Groningen strategy documents it claims doesn’t do enough to
coalition lost control, the entire though Ireland and Malta will argument around academics. The petition goes on marquee on a floating platform seen by De Correspondent identify protect the status of Dutch. It
education system would change. also benefit. language education The Borgia Palace, Valencia, home of the to highlight problems created on a canal to serve as a lecture “cash-cow” courses which are also claims that Anglicisation
regional government
That would have ended the However, language education in each individual by the “great influx of foreign hall. De Correspondent reports popular with international students, breaches the existing Education
regional plan to send up to 1,000 and the teacher training that goes province. In would need additional training students” attracted by the growing that at the University of Twente such as international business, Act, which states, that “higher
teachers abroad this summer with it remains a political hot Valencia, the left-wing coalition to meet the new C1 level of number of English medium degree in Enschede, freshmen students European law and psychology. education shall be in principle
to study English and CLIL potato in Spain. includes Compromis, a Valencian English required in bilingual courses. are sitting in the aisles of crowded Many academics question in Dutch,” and that “higher
methodology. Nationally, the ‘bilingual’ nationalist group which supports schools. Around 76 per cent of masters’ lecture halls. There are queues for whether the ‘internationalisation’ education shall promote the
The good news, at least from the movement in the Castilian plurilingual education in Good news? Bear in mind that degree courses nationally are now the University of Utrecht’s library of higher education has really Dutch language proficiency of
EFL point of view, is that despite the Spanish-speaking regions, for Valencian, Castilian and English the socialists narrowly won the English-medium, as are 28 per in the run-up to exams. enriched Dutch students by Dutch students.”
rise in the vote for right-wing Vox, example, is seen as the project or French. If the Socialists and national election there and, at cent of all bachelor degrees. As The way universities are funded exposing them to students from The academics’ petition
which insists on Spanish-medium of the centre-right Partido Podemos refused to support the time of going to press, the the number of English medium is forcing them to compete for other cultures. In the universities continues, “the great influx of
education only, the left alliance Popular, while the plurilingual this model the coalition would latest set of regional elections had courses has grown, so has the foreign students. Dutch and EU of Groningen and Nijmegen, foreign students” means less
retained control, guaranteeing the movement, which promotes collapse. yet to take place. number of foreign students – students pay €2060 in annual around one in ten students on time spent on each student, with
province’s ‘plurilingual’ education regional languages like Catalan By contrast, the current The high parental support there were 22,000 nationwide in fees, while undergraduates from the English-medium psychology reduced proficiency in Dutch in
system for the next few years. A and Valencian, are supported by government of Castille and for CLIL programmes, however, 2009, now there are 22,000 from outside the EU pay up to €20,000. degree course are Dutch. the graduate workforce, adding,
constant flow of teachers requiring the left-wing nationalists. The Leon is centre right. It recently should keep trainers busy for Germany alone, and 122,000 Dutch universities reportedly There is widespread concern “the need for good Dutch
training now looks likely. extreme right Vox party demands announced that 1700 teachers several years. students overall – of which roughly pay student recruitment agencies over whether the quality of language skills in in this age of
30,000 are exchange students around €250 per EU student they English-medium courses can be information and communications
coming for a single academic year. recruit, and €800 for a non-EU maintained. technology has not been
The rapid increase in student. The Anglicisation of Dutch reduced.”
student numbers is putting the A large proportion of central universities extends to their
infrastructure of some universities government grants to universities institutional names. What was ■ EL Gazette news editor
under considerable strain, with – roughly 61 per cent out of a once Universiteit Maastricht is Matt Salusbury is a Dutch
newly-arrived international total of €3.9 billion – is spent now officially the University of national who studied at the
students accommodated in on financing based on output, Maastricht. (By 2013, around half Hogeschool Utrecht/University
temporary ‘tent cities’ at the start in the form of enrolments and its students were international of Applied Sciences Utrecht. The
of this academic year. graduations. and half its bachelor degree translations from Dutch language
Investigative website De Overall, there is also less courses were taught in English.) sources used in this article are
Correspondent describes giant government funding per student The institution formerly known his own.
marquees set up to house
international students at
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen PIXABAY
(the National University of
Groningen) in August 2018.
According to news website
Teacher Training Courses Sikkom, emergency international
student accommodation in the
Wimbledon School of English city also included a disused state
school, canal cruise boats and
London an office complex built from
containers.
Quality Education | Perfect Location Newly-arrived ‘internationals’
at universities in Amsterdam
CLIL - Content and Language Teaching with Technology and Utrecht have been
Integrated Learning accommodated in youth hostels
Teachers’ Refresher courses TKT - Teaching Knowledge Test
and campsites.
Worldwide Teacher Training Webinar training Dutch undergraduate students
**Erasmus+ funding available** tend to live at home and
commute long distances using
Ranked as the Number 1 English Professional, dedicated and subsidised student travel cards, so
language school in the UK highly experienced trainers the demand for halls of residence
To book, email: annelise@wimbledon-school.ac.uk is a recent development.
T: +44 (0)20 8947 1921 | W: www.wimbledon-school.ac.uk
Only the ten campus-based Students at Utrecht University (above) have to queue for library seats as the rising
‘University Colleges’, which offer number of foreign students put pressure on Dutch Higher Education

EU6 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com EU7