As a part of the action of supporting the internationalisation of higher education in the Republic of Serbia, the Foundation Tempus is implementing a teacher training course for carrying out classes in English at the four largest state universities in Serbia: the University of Belgrade, the University of Novi Sad, the University of Niš, and the University of Kragujevac. The main goal of this project is empowering higher education teachers to teach their courses in English by using the EMI approach (English as a Medium of Instruction – EMI), which supports the efforts to not only increase the number of subjects available to students in English, but also to accredit more study programmes in English.
The project was initiated in 2019, as one of the pillars within the initiative Study in Serbia, which was carried out by the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Foundation Tempus, with the aim of supporting the process of internationalisation of education in the Republic of Serbia, along with increasing the number of foreign students in Serbia. The first cycle of the project was conducted in the same year. Subsequent cycles were carried out with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) in the Republic of Serbia.
So far 611 teachers have successfully completed the training after four conducted cycles:
- The first cycle (2019−2020) was successfully completed by 176 teachers in total (36 from the University of Belgrade, 40 from the University of Novi Sad, 62 from the university of Niš, 35 from the University of Kragujevac);
- The second cycle (2021−2022) was successfully completed by 149 teachers in total (37 from the University of Belgrade, 33 from the University of Novi Sad, 42 from the university of Niš, 37 from the University of Kragujevac);
- The third cycle (2022−2023) was successfully completed by 153 teachers in total (40 from the University of Belgrade, 52 from the University of Novi Sad, 37 from the university of Niš, 24 from the University of Kragujevac);
- The fourth cycle (2023−2024) was successfully completed by 133 teachers in total (46 from the University of Belgrade, 42 from the University of Novi Sad, 23 from the university of Niš, 22 from the University of Kragujevac).
The training course is free of charge for participants. The number of training participants depends on the number of groups at each university, which was decided and approved in advance for each project cycle. After successfully completing the training course, participants receive a certificate issued by the Foundation Tempus. Most of the universities participating in the project valorise this training activity in their procedures for professional advancement, and some universities even managed to integrate the training activity into selection criteria for Erasmus+ calls for staff mobility.
More on EMI training course
Who is this training intended for?
Lecturers who are actively engaged in teaching at one of the aforementioned four universities who possess an English competence level of B2 or higher can apply for this training activity. It is necessary for participants to have already acquired the language skills to the indicated level, considering they will need to activate those skills in the training, and will also need to practice their use for innovative ways of working with students. The training isn’t directly focused on raising the participants’ English language competence and its goal isn’t to improve foreign language knowledge levels. The previously mentioned English language competence level is a prerequisite since the aim of this training is enhancing the quality of teaching in English by applying innovative methods adapted to the international context. Detailed conditions, selection criteria and application procedure are all defined in the public call.
Structure and dynamic of conducting the training
This training is conducted during the winter semester in the form of fifteen 90-minute-long sessions, usually organised once or twice a week in the rectorate building of the trainee’s home university. From the 15 sessions, 12 are theoretical, while 3 are practical, dedicated to so-called microteaching sessions during which participants have a chance to put their acquired knowledge to use and receive feedback from the course trainers and their peers. The dynamic of conducting the training may vary from one cycle to the next and is adapted to the context of each university, but is generally carried out according to the following schedule:
- September – announcement of the public call for candidate applications and its publication on the Foundation Tempus website, as well as the websites of the four universities;
- October – testing of the registered candidates’ English language knowledge and forming the groups;
- November to February – training course implementation;
- March – certificate award to the trainees.
Who conducts the training?
The training is conducted by a team of English language experts from faculties of philology/philosophy from the above mentioned four universities. Before the first two training cycles, these teams of lecturers participated in two trainings on EMI topics led by worldwide EMI experts – Prof. Ernesto Macaro and Prof. Mark Searle (University of Oxford), Prof. Mary Page (University of Southampton) and Prof. Julianne Hammink (University of Arizona). During these joint trainings the EMI training syllabus was designed and developed, which is being implemented at all four universities in similar formats and with equal outcomes.
Training outcomes
- Activated English language skills in the domain of the participant’s profession;
- Acquired competences to apply innovative teaching methodologies adapted to the international environment, in English language, with particular emphasis on innovative teaching methods (e.g. managing group and classroom work, fostering student interaction, strategies for accessing students of different nationalities and mother tongues);
- Acquired competences to apply adequate methods of class planning and student assessment in an international environment;
- Acquired competences to apply innovative IT tools in English language teaching.
