IMPROVING EMI THROUGH THE VISEGRAD CLIL-HET PROJECT

In line with the global education tendency, Higher Education Institutions in Albania are making attempts to successfully implement a competitive English Medium Instruction (EMI) University model. This chapter sheds light on a case study analysis of EPOKA University - an International University in Tirana using English language instruction for its disciplinary programs. Specifically, the chapter illuminates the contributory findings of the CLIL- HET project into the English didactic competence of the international and local non-native English-speaking academic staff of EPOKA University. This university comprises a ESP/EMI practice par excellence in Albania, however, no such theoretical training has ever been prioritized at the regional and EU level project consortium in this narrow didactic dimension. The project diagnosed the need to improve English teaching didactic for disciplinary lecturers specifically to place language goals on the same equal importance to the content goals. Moreover, the English teaching needs assessment and its standardization in compatibility with recent EMI/CLIL/ESP principles, is perceived as the most relevant educational approach to further boost the international teaching profile of this young institution aspiring top-quality international academic recognition. The inductive results on the necessity to equip disciplinary scholars with EMI/CLIL//ESP sufficient theoretical tools will be a first model to be followed in the higher educational arena in Albania.