Par Fabien Dorémus. Depuis cette rentrée universitaire 2013, la langue hébraïque n'est plus enseignée à l'Université de Picardie Jules-Verne. Une première depuis 25 ans, selon Nicole Abravanel, responsable des études hébraïques à l'UPJV. Cette enseignante en histoire a pris très à cœur la défense de l'enseignement de l'hébreu. Depuis presque un an, elle bataille pour qu'il subsiste. En vain.
Pourquoi supprimer l'hébreu ? À vrai dire, ce n'est pas cette langue en particulier qui est visée par l'Université de Picardie Jules-Verne, mais tous les enseignements dits «optionnels» de la faculté des Langues, comme l'arabe ou l'hébreu. Suite...

By Andrew Denholm. GREATER protection is to be given to threatened language teaching at Scottish universities. Any institution that wants to cut languages in future will have to alert funding bosses before any decision is made.
The Scottish Funding Council - the body that distributes public funding to higher education - would then assess whether the closure was detrimental to the range of languages taught in Scotland.
The council could also look at other issues, such as the importance of a subject to Scotland's economic future.
Where a closure was deemed detrimental, the council would then seek to broker a solution with the university or universities involved to safeguard future provision. More...

Blog Educpros de Stéphan Bourcieu. Au moment où plusieurs universités françaises annoncent l’ouverture de diplômes Masters enseignés entièrement dans la langue de Shakespeare, suivant en cela les orientations de la Ministre de l’enseignement supérieur Geneviève Fioraso (Le Figaro, 13 mars 2013), il n’est pas inutile de rappeler que le niveau d’anglais des étudiants français reste un problème majeur de notre système d’enseignement. Suite de l'article...

By Farish Noor. GLOBAL LINGUA: Scholarly works that are not in English are not able to penetrate the international arena
THE debate over the teaching of the English language continues, not only in Malaysia but also in many other countries across the world. While the form and content of the debate has been shaped by domestic political considerations and agendas, there are some pressing realities that we cannot escape from; and one of them is the simple fact that English remains the most commonly used language in global academic circles.
In order to circumvent the somewhat heated temperature of the debate here, allow me to offer some observations based on my experience teaching in some other Asian countries. In countries like India and Pakistan, the teaching of English remains a serious concern for many students, parents and educational institutions that wish to give Indian and Pakistani students a fighting chance in the ever-changing global economy. For many of the new industries that have emerged, including information technology, the working knowledge remains English - despite the linguistic nationalism that is articulated and foregrounded by some politicians and activists there. Read more...

By Goolam Mohamedbhai. The initiative taken by China to establish university branch campuses in other countries, as reported by Roger Chao, is not at all surprising. It is unquestionable that China wants to play a major role in global higher education to match its aspiration of becoming the world’s leading economic power. China has understood what many countries still fail to appreciate: higher education is a key vehicle not only to achieve economic development but also to attain ‘soft power’ regionally and globally. China has adopted a very strategic approach in its long-term objective, with education playing a crucial role. English being the acknowledged global language, China promotes the teaching of English in its schools and has sent thousands of its teachers to USA, UK and Australia to learn English. Read more...