Exploring the conceptualisation of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in the construction of (Transnational) European Universities : the case of UNA Europa

ABSTRACT: In an increasing context of internationalisation, the European Commission announced in 2019 the creation of the first seventeen ‘European Universities’ (EUnis), a Pan-European consortium of higher education institutions designed to promote European values, cooperation and identity. Against...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Dafouz Milne, Emma
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/129678
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129678
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:81'246.3(4)
81'272(4)
378.4(4)
European universities
Language diversity
Multilingualism
Supra-national
Curriculum planning and development
Language policy
Filología inglesa
Lingüística
Enseñanza universitaria
5701.03 Bilingüismo
5802 Organización y Planificación de la Educación
Descripción
Sumario:ABSTRACT: In an increasing context of internationalisation, the European Commission announced in 2019 the creation of the first seventeen ‘European Universities’ (EUnis), a Pan-European consortium of higher education institutions designed to promote European values, cooperation and identity. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the ways in which these newly created EUnis construct their views of linguistic diversity and multilingualism. The research used as a case study the example of UNA EUROPA, an alliance of eight leading universities with eight different languages. Drawing mainly on content analysis combined with a discourse analysis approach, three data sources – the project proposal for the EU Commission, the UNA EUROPA website documents, and a research interview with one of its representatives – were examined to look into the ways in which languages and multilingualism are conceptualised. Findings reveal that linguistic diversity and multilingualism are given different degrees of visibility in the three sets of data examined and that utilitarian objectives seem to predominate over identity ones. It is expected that these findings will help unveil the ways in which language issues are problematised or not in the agenda of these newly created transnational universities.