Language policy and the law

Abstract

Universities in the Netherlands are currently faced with finding a balance between the implementation of English-medium instruction and the protection and promotion of Dutch. In this article I analyse university language policy documents from a discursive and critical perspective. I explore the intertextual transformations involved in a multilevel process of policymaking; that is, as policy discourse shifts from the state legislation governing the language of instruction in higher education to the codes of conduct for language of the publicly funded universities. The institutions use various discursive strategies, including intertextuality and recontextualisation, to legitimate their reinterpretation of the basic legal principle ‘Dutch, unless’ as ‘English, unless’ (at master’s level, and increasingly at bachelor’s level too). Although the current law is set to be amended, it appears the proposed new law will simply require universities to do more paperwork while continuing on their current path.

A glass ceiling in the educational labour market

“…However, the development of English-taught programmes, and the influx of international students 'triggered a backlash in some sections of the media and public opinion' (Edwards, 2020:37). Maastricht University and the University of Twente were sued by Beter Onderwijs Nederland -a Dutch education campaign organisation -for offering English language degrees in 2018 (Edwards, 2020). There was also a petition to halt the internationalisation of universities in 2019.…”

“…Research on internationalisation is mainly concentrated on the structural effects on universities (Breetvelt 2018;Edwards 2020;Phillipson 2006;Wilkinson 2013;Altbach and Knight 2007;Haines and Dijk 2016), students' academic performance and resistance to internationalisation (Gabriëls and Wilkinson 2020;Wilkinson and Gabriëls 2021), English accents and linguistic discrimination in higher education (Hendriks, van Meurs and Reimer 2018;Nejjari et al 2020), and international instructors' teaching and experience in the classroom setting (De Haan 2014). However, while universities are educational institutions, they are also workplaces for faculty members.…”