Towards Internationalisation in a Technical Architecture Degree

Abstract

Globalisation has led to a more internationalised professional world. Professionals are not only performing their work in local contexts, as in ancient times, but availability to travel or to relocate is becoming an added value for many companies. In this context, learning languages is becoming a very positive skill for professionals. This means that speaking another language, besides their mother tongue, will improve their possibilities when applying for an attractive position. This knowledge must not only allow them to communicate in everyday life, but also command in the professional context. Many Higher Education Institutions offer Degrees in a second language (usually English) besides the country's own official language. While this is common in countries with minority languages (i.e., Denmark, Holland, Sweden, etc.), it rarely occurs in countries with widespread languages, such as United Kingdom, Ireland or Spain. This is a disadvantage for their students, who will be limited to work in places where their own language is spoken, unless they learn it outside the University. The Universitat Jaume I of Castellon (UJI), Spain, is strongly committed to implement English into its Degrees in order to increase future possibilities for its students. Obviously, this is no easy problem to tackle. Firstly, both students and staff must be appropriately prepared, which requires time ("Rome wasn't built in a day"). A plan has been designed in UJI's Bachelor Degree of Technical Architecture (BTAD) which aims to progressively increase the number of credits taught in English and to better graduates' opportunities to find a job. The plan focuses on the Architecture field and, in order to be realistic, it has been developed by considering the actual starting conditions. This paper focuses on the short-term targets to achieve. In order to be successful, important actions to consider are knowing teachers' level of English and asking students' about opinions and suggestions on the implementation of English during their degree studies.