Perspectives of business stakeholders about EMI in Turkiye

Abstract

EMI programmes have grown exponentially in various parts of the world. While the reasons for the growth in EMI programmes have been commonly discussed, the consequences or outcomes of EMI studies did not attract too much attention. Moreover, various stakeholders of EMI, such as students, lecturers, parents and administrators, have been examined, but the stakeholders in industry have received less consideration. Motivated by the necessity for a deeper investigation of the business stakeholders’ opinions about EMI, this study examined the perspectives of business stakeholders about EMI programmes and their graduates in Turkiye. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 company managers and 12 human resources (HR) supervisors from a range of large, medium and small companies. Our findings revealed that recruiters perceived obtaining a degree from an English-taught programme as an important aspect of human capital taken together with other factors such as prior working experience, certificates and/or further training. Nevertheless, company managers and HR supervisors occasionally had different perspectives regarding EMI graduates’ English proficiency levels, which might be a sign of these stakeholders’ different perceptions towards EMI graduates and their language proficiency.