Language Policy and the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Baltic Countries

Abstract

In the framework of the internationalization and globalization of higher education and competition for international students, the paper examines how language policy in higher education shapes the provision of study programs in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It concludes that study programs in the Baltic states mostly follow the convention of a monolingual curriculum offered in the official national language, or Russian, as the largest minority language in the Baltic states, or English. Comparative analysis of international student flows also shows that while students from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are leaving to study in predominantly English-speaking countries, which dominate in the global competition for international students, language policy laws in the Baltic states, except for Estonia, remain protective of the use of the official language in public higher education.

Latvia: A Historical Analysis of Transformation and Diversification of the Higher Education System

“…In 1995, there were 648 international degree-seeking students studying at public and private HEIs in Latvia, compared to 5293 in 2014 (MoES 2014). Internationally mobile students in Latvia originated from a vast number of countries in the East and West (Kaša and Ait Si Mhamed 2013). By the end of the first decade of the new millennium, international students from former Soviet Union countries acquiring higher education in the Russian language mainly enrolled in the private HE sector (Priednieks and Kuklicǎ 2012).…”

Relationship between Internationalization of Higher Education and the Further Study Trend of Overseas Students

“…Every year, the central government will implement a plan for the introduction of overseas high-level talents to develop China's hightech industries. Talent training and discipline building have played an active role (Kaša & Mhamed, 2013).…”

25 Years of transformations of higher education systems in post-Soviet countries: reform and continuity

“…They were able to offer HE study programmes not only in English but also in Russian, which is not an official EU language. Although there was a portion of international students at private HEIs in Latvia studying in Russian, evidence shows that these programmes mainly catered to the local Russianspeaking student population (Kaša and Ait Si Mhamed 2013). Restrictions on the use of foreign languages in higher education instruction for public HEIs have contributed to the diversification between public and private HEIs in Latvia; each caters to different pools of the student population.…”

“…In 1995, there were 648 international degree-seeking students studying at public and private HEIs in Latvia, compared to 5293 in 2014. Internationally mobile students in Latvia originated from a vast number of countries in the East and West (Kaša and Ait Si Mhamed 2013). By the end of the first decade of the new millennium, international students from former Soviet Union countries acquiring higher education in the Russian language mainly enrolled in the private HE sector (Priednieks and Kuklicǎ 2012).…”

“…The most popular study programmes in the English language among internationally mobile students were programmes in business, medical sciences and social sciences. The most popular programmes in Russian among international students included information technologies, logistics and business (Kaša and Ait Si Mhamed 2013).…”