Internationalisation, multilingualism and English-medium instruction: the teacher's perspective

[EN]In the newEuropean higher education space, Universities in Europe are exhorted to cultivate and develop multilingualism. The European Commission’s 2004–2006 action plan for promoting language learning and diversity speaks of the need to build an environment which is favourable to languages. Yet reality indicates that it is English which reigns supreme and has become the main foreign language used as means of instruction at European universities. Internationalisation has played a key role in this process, becoming one of the main drivers of the linguistic hegemony exerted by English. In this paper we examine the opinions of teaching staff involved in English-medium instruction, from pedagogical ecologyof-language and personal viewpoints. Data were gathered using group discussion. The study was conducted at a multilingual Spanish university where majority (Spanish), minority (Basque) and foreign (English) languages coexist, resulting in some unavoidable linguistic strains. The implications for English-medium instruction are discussed at the end of this paper.

Experiences of Public-Private Collaboration for Stimulating

For over a decade now, work has been ongoing on the professional organization and management of town centre retail spaces in Spain under what is known as the Open Shopping Centre model. Introducing this model has involved a process of public-private collaboration in several different phases, conditioned to a large extent by the specific context of each initiative. With a view to furthering the process of benchmarking developed out of the experiences of recent years, we shall use case analysis to explain trends in initiatives for retail regeneration and stimulation undertaken in the Basque Country (an autonomous community in the north of Spain) since 2000. We analyze the factors that have prompted these initiatives, assessing and comparing the landmarks and conditions that have marked, or are determining, progress in the dynamic of collaboration between municipal authorities and retailers for a competitive improvement both in the retail sector and in the environment in which it operates: the city. Finally we list witch are these key factors.

Utilización de la plataforma virtual eKasi en la docencia de la tecnología farmacéutica

[ES] Una de las aplicaciones más interesantes de las nuevas tecnologías en la docencia, es la utilización de plataformas virtuales accesibles por el alumno a través de Internet. eKASI es una plataforma informática para el apoyo a la docencia presencial desarrollada en la Universidad del Pais Vasco, que permite la gestión de los documentos y la gestión de los estudiantes de un curso, a la vez que facilita el aprendizaje del alumno. Es una herramienta de distribución gratuita y de fácil manejo. Durante el curso 2005/2006, se ha utilizado esta plataforma como apoyo a la docencia de la asignatura Tecnología Farmacéutica I de 4º curso de la Licenciatura en Farmacia de la Universidad del País Vasco. La plataforma está accesible en la dirección de Internet http://ekasi.ehu.es mediante la introducción de una clave facilitada por el administrador del sistema. En la sección correspondiente al aula virtual de la plataforma, el alumno tiene a su disposición la información y documentos relacionados con la asignatura (plan docente, presentaciones utilizadas en las clases, cuestionarios de autoevaluación, enlaces de interés a paginas web, materiales multimedia, etc.). Por otra parte, esta plataforma permite la colaboración y discusión on line de los materiales estudiados, a través del foro y del correo electrónico y posibilita al profesor tutorizar y realizar un seguimiento del progreso de los estudiantes, mediante la realización de tests y de las diferentes tareas propuestas al grupo de alumnos. La plataforma eKASI ha supuesto un instrumento de gran utilidad como apoyo a la docencia presencial tal como se deduce de los resultados de la encuesta realizada a los alumnos al finalizar el curso académico.

Interdisciplinary experience in the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz: teaching profession module

[EN] The higher education regulation process in Europe, known as the Bologna Process, has involved many changes, mainly in relation to methodology and assessment. The paper given below relates to implementing the new EU study plans into the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz; it is the first interdisciplinary paper written involving teaching staff and related to the Teaching Profession module, the first contained in the structure of the new plans. The coordination of teaching staff is one of the main lines of work in the Bologna Process, which is also essential to develop the right skills and maximise the role of students as an active learning component. The use of active, interdisciplinary methodologies has opened up a new dimension in universities, requiring the elimination of the once componential, individual structure, making us look for new areas of exchange that make it possible for students' training to be developed jointly.