UK_2022_Taiwan Ministry of Education EMI Programme Evaluation Project

Tender description

The British Council is seeking a supplier to evaluate the provision of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in several Taiwanese tertiary institutions as part of Taiwan's Programme on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST) Project that was initiated in September 2021. The British Council and Ecctis - UK ENIC developed a quality assurance framework endorsed by the Ministry of Education which underpinned the EMI enhancement plan template which universities used for funding application. Ecctis and a few UK academics were involved in the review of the plans with local reviewers. This project will involve three distinct phases: a review of institutional policy documents, surveys and focus groups of relevant stakeholders from these institutions as well as site inspections involving lesson observations. As part of Taiwan's 2030 bilingual policy, the BEST project aimed to cultivate the English proficiency of students and improve the quality of teaching through the medium of English with the aspiration to promote and develop bilingualism. BEST involves a wide range of institutions; the four 'Key Cultivation Universities' are: National Cheng Kung University, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan Normal University. These universities have EMI policies that cut across several disciplines. In addition, there are 41 'Key Cultivation Colleges' who are grouped according to the four disciplines the Taiwanese government has prioritised for the improvement of their international competitiveness and general improvement of Taiwan's graduates. These 41 colleges sit under 25 universities. The purpose of this project is to review the progress of the BEST programme focusing on the efficacy of institutional policy, capacity and delivery of EMI. In addition, it is to provide insight on the opportunities and challenges faced by different institutions as they develop their EMI capabilities as well as to provide recommendations on how best practice across different disciplines can be shared and what options exist for progressing BEST further. As institutions are at different stages of EMI implementation and resourcing varies, this study is needed to provide both the Taiwanese government and the British Council with a macro-view of progress made to date as well as identifying trends and shared challenges as well as strengths in order to inform further policy development in this area.