Multilingual researcher education at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel: a case study

Abstract

The article discusses the impact of multilingual researcher education on multilingual research practices at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Because of internationalising educational programmes in higher education, learner groups became more and more multilingual and heterogeneous, which calls for an appropriate pedagogical approach. The question is, how and to what extent multilingual researcher education programmes determine the success of dealing with multilingual research practices of (future) researchers. Multilingual research education within the programme of the Multilingual Master in Linguistics and Literary Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is discussed. It is felt that research methodology courses, master paper supervision and research internships in a multilingual context – where students can use more than one language in the research process – are considered an example of good practice in the light of the university’s successful internationalisation policy.