Internationalizing Short-term Educational Programs in Higher Education. A Case Study: The TESOL/ELE Joint Program

Abstract

Internationalization is a top priority today for most educational institutions around the world. According to some recent reports (British Council, UNESCO), by 2024 there will be approximately 10 million mobile students in higher education. Several public and private programs have been implemented to meet the needs of those mobile students, particularly in a study abroad context but some of them are just tailor-made courses with low or no involvement in the local community. The University of Alicante (Spain) and several American universities (The University of Missouri, Rutgers University, Central Michigan University, Western Illinois University and The University of Memphis) have been running together a highly successful program on different subjects (Business, Finance, Linguistics, Sports, etc) for ten years, the International Summer Program or ISP. Faculty members and students from all participating institutions take part in this short-term program during the months of June or July. Furthermore, the ISP is open to guest professors and students worldwide, so other European universities (EDHEC Business School in Paris-France, Graz Universität in Austria) have joined this project in recent years. The result is a multicultural short-term program where Faculty members exchange their personal experience and best practices in teaching methodologies while students from different countries learn and interact in and outside of class in a wide range of academic and free-time activities. This educational program is aimed at promoting diversity and multiculturalism through different cooperative strategies and student interaction. This study shows the program and its context, analyses the existing differences and challenges for co-organizing institutions and provides the results regarding the students’ perception of the program and their participation.