TY - CHAP
T1 - Commentary
T2 - Who Is EMI for? From Vietnam, Thinking About a Clash of Realities Behind the Policy, Practice, and Pedagogy in Japan
AU - Nonaka, Chisato
N1 - Funding Information:
Since the 1980s, the Japanese government has experimented with a number of large-scale internationalisation policies. These policies range from general recommendations to curriculum overhauls including the introduction and promotion of EMI courses in Japanese (mostly higher) education. From the late 2000s, the government began to issue calls for proposals from universities and carefully select universities for funding institutional internationalisation efforts. The most recent large-scale competitively funded internationalisation project is known as the “Top Global University Project” (TGUP hereafter), which was launched in 2014. There are 37 universities in Japan that are being funded for different initiatives within the large project scheme and each university has designed a specific and unique strategic plan to implement during the approved funding period. As I work in one such institution, I will draw from both literature as well as my own professional experience of EMI policy and practice while also making connections to the findings from the above three chapters.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This commentary examines a clash of different realities in the delivery of EMI at the institutional and classroom levels, first by reflecting on the previous Chapters (14, 15, 16 ) from the context of Vietnam, and subsequently by drawing from empirical cases within the context of Japan. While there seem to be common challenges in EMI policies, practices, and pedagogies for Vietnamese and Japanese higher education structures, the author highlights Japan-specific issues and situations that may add yet another layer to the already-strained system surrounding the implementation of EMI programmes. Specifically, with Japan’s hyper-aging population and low-birth rate as unavoidable realities, the once-popular discourse of “internationalization” may not hold importance or urgency in the operation of the country. The author ultimately calls for the need to revisit EMI programmes in Japan, among other countries with rapid sociopolitical and economic changes (e.g. Vietnam), in order to clarify the original intention and purpose of existing internationalisation policies.
AB - This commentary examines a clash of different realities in the delivery of EMI at the institutional and classroom levels, first by reflecting on the previous Chapters (14, 15, 16 ) from the context of Vietnam, and subsequently by drawing from empirical cases within the context of Japan. While there seem to be common challenges in EMI policies, practices, and pedagogies for Vietnamese and Japanese higher education structures, the author highlights Japan-specific issues and situations that may add yet another layer to the already-strained system surrounding the implementation of EMI programmes. Specifically, with Japan’s hyper-aging population and low-birth rate as unavoidable realities, the once-popular discourse of “internationalization” may not hold importance or urgency in the operation of the country. The author ultimately calls for the need to revisit EMI programmes in Japan, among other countries with rapid sociopolitical and economic changes (e.g. Vietnam), in order to clarify the original intention and purpose of existing internationalisation policies.
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-46912-2_17
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-46912-2_17
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85132786760
T3 - International and Development Education
SP - 331
EP - 339
BT - International and Development Education
PB - Palgrave Macmillan
ER -