In June 2023, a new Focus Group within the CercleS confederation was established. It was named English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in Higher Education. The main aims of the Focus Group are as follows:

•    to explore EMI in Higher Education;
•    to investigate the role of language centres in creating and supporting professional development programmes and educational initiatives in the area of EMI;
•    to design, pilot and implement tailored courses & training sessions for EMI teachers;
•    to produce general guidelines for EMI teachers and teachers-to-be;
•    to improve foreign language and content teacher collaboration for EMI.

On September 12, 2024, the coordinators of the Focus Group EMI in Higher Education, Katarzyna Matuszak, PhD and Edyta Olejarczuk, PhD conducted the first Focus Group meeting gathering new members within the XVIII CercleS conference entitled Multilingualism & the Anglosphere, which took place in Durham, Great Britain. During the meeting, the following aspects of EMI were discussed:

1. Focus Group mission and vision.
2. EMI vs. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning).
3. The EMI experience at Poznan University of Technology.
4. SWOT analysis of CLIL/EMI.
5. Perspectives for the future.

During the meeting the participants communicated their wish to take part in a webinar that would gather academic teachers conducting courses in English. In order to address their needs, the FG coordinators are pleased to welcome interested academic teachers to our team and participate in a webinar entitled Enhancing Higher Education through EMI: core areas and challenges, which will take place on 9 April 2025 from 10.00 to 14.30 CET. 
 

More information can be found on the following website: https://cercles.org/focus-groups/