Outsourcing language courses & testing: exploring opportunities and meeting challenges

1. Outsourcing language courses & testing: exploring opportunities and meeting challenges Christine Engelen, LINGUAPOLIS, University of Antwerp (BE) Francisco Lorenzo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla (ES) Maria Giovanna Tassinari, Sprachenzentrum Freie Universität Berlin (DE)

2. Who? Language centres: key expertise strategic role in internationalisation of HE (Wulkow Memorandum)

3. What? HE language centre/department ~ external partner • Cooperation, joint venture • Outsourcing, subcontracting • Strategic alliances

4. What for? • Providing language courses • Testing & assessment & certification • Hosting cultural activities • Consultancy • Material development

5. Why? • increased (massive) demand • need for certification • transfer & implementation of knowhow

6. Focus on Q • “strong commitment to and awareness of the quality agenda” (Wulkow Memorandum) • LANQUA QUALITY MODELwww.lanqua.eu

7. Focus on Q (2) LANQUA QUALITY MODEL Cycle 1: planning • Context & content: “what are we trying to do?” • Purpose: “why are we trying to do it?” • Organisation: “how are we going to do it?” Cycle 2: review • Reflection in action: “how do we know that it’s working?” • Evaluation of outcomes: “how do we know that it works?” • Revision: “how will we be able to improve it?”

8. Example 1: Berlin Partnership cooperation between the Language Centre of the Freie University Berlin and the Instituto Cervantes Berlin • Context: implementation of the Bologna Process at the FUB; design and and deliver of • new language training programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate specialist students – and particularly language based modules for 30 and 60 credit points) • language modules within the obligatory general professional skills (10 to 15 credit points) • Opening of the Instituto Cervantes in Berlin

9. Example 1: Berlin Implementation Cooperation agreement between the Director of the Language Centre and the Director of the Instituto Cervantes Cervantes will offer Spanish courses exclusively for FUB students within the General Professional Skills strand (up to CEFR B1 level) the learning outcomes of these courses are oriented towards the learning outcomes of the FUB language modules the course fees for students for general professional skills are covered by the FUB the Language Centre will recognize the course achievements attained by the FUB students at the Instituto Cervantes

10. Example 1: Berlin Outcomes Spanish demand of the FUB students for general professional skills can be largely satisfied Quality control aspects The agreed learning outcomes form the basis of the terms of contract between the FUB and the Instituto Cervantes Berlin The courses are exclusively for FUB students In the first two years, a programme coordinator was responsible for the pedagogical coordination and evaluation of the courses Regular student evaluations should be undertaken each term

11. Example 1: Berlin Critical aspects How can we ensure that students fulfil the learning outcomes? How can we ensure that students accomplish their workload outside the contact hours? (60 contact hours, about 90 non-contact hours per term) How can we ensure quality with regard to part-time teachers? How can we monitor and (where necessary) renegotiate the interests and the priorities of both parties of the agreement?

12. Example 1: Berlin Lessons to be learned: The stipulations of the cooperation agreement should be reviewed on a regular basis. The courses at the Instituto Cervantes Berlin should be evaluated (both from a student and a teacher perspective) with regard to learning outcomes course structures student workload in the contact and non-contact hours (joint evaluation by FUB and Instituto Cervantes Berlin) The aim is to ascertain whether the interests, standards and goals of both the Instituto Cervantes Berlin and the FUB are compatible.

13. Example 2: Seville The Universidad Pablo Olavide in Seville recognises “Certicap”, language tests offered online by Banco Santander.

14. Example 2: Seville

15. Example 2: Seville

16. Example 2: Seville

17. Example 2: Seville

18. Santander: friend or foe • Language leaves the Academia. It becomes more social, more accessible and popular. • It helps build up language competence transparency. • European Framework of Reference reaches further places and earns worldwide recognition, i.e. Ibero america. • It helps build up the language for all culture. Language competence is as accessible as being a bank account holder. • A bridge-building strategy, bringing universities, language testers and research together. • Two-way feedback: banks access the temple of knowledge and academia enters the temple of money. • Language is Money: a biased rendition of languages. • Title inflation: a must instead of a benchmark.

19. What now?

20. Thank you for your attention www.lanqua.eu christine.engelen@ua.ac.be fjlorber@upo.es tassinar@zedat.fu-berlin.de