Resource Center for EMI

Resource Center for EMI

Introduction

The Resource Center for EMI (RCEMI) at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) was founded in 2022, with its core mission being to help higher education institutions across Taiwan to establish and promote EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) professional development programs. Supported by NTNU’s leading educational research and success in internationalization, RCEMI will create a forum for all Taiwanese universities and colleges to share bilingual education experiences and foster a common goal for all.

RCEMI is committed to training EMI faculty and teaching assistants (TAs) to enhance the efficacy of bilingual teaching, promoting resource sharing and field-based cross-university collaborative partnership in all institutions. The key services we provide includes the following:

  1. Cross-University Support System
  2. EMI Faculty Professional Development Program
  3. Inter-University EMI Community of Practice
  4. EMI TA Professional Development Program
  5. Off-site to UT Austin

Establishment of Cross-university Support System

We have collected a name list of EMI instructional leaders from various disciplines to accommodate the needs of our partners. In addition, we facilitate discussions and communications among the beacon universities and colleges of the BEST Program, as well as other institutions, to identify challenges and deliberate possible solutions collectively. Achievement forums are also held for different institutions to share their successful stories and lessons learned with respect to EMI strategies, teacher professional development, EMI curriculum planning and evaluation, and curriculum effectiveness assurance approaches.

Professional Development for EMI Faculty

RCEMI pays attention to the needs of educators, responds to diversified EMI instructor training courses, plans domestic and overseas training, and develops EMI teacher training courses and certifications developed by NTNU to enhance the EMI curriculum development and teaching transformation capabilities of higher education teachers, and improve the effectiveness of EMI teaching. Our hybrid courses cover three significant areas involving a total of 6-20 hours of videos and in-person workshops.

Professional Learning Community of EMI Instructors

RCEMI offers grants of up to NT$60,000 to institutions seeking to build communities of practice among EMI faculty members from different universities. These communities of practice afford members the opportunity to exchange pedagogical ideas and collaborate on curriculum design and will serve as support networks for EMI teaching faculties across Taiwan.

Online Training Program for EMI Teaching Assistants

Our training program aims to develop understanding of EMI TA to keys to successful EMI learning and effective class management. This will allow these teaching assistants to prepare for EMI teaching and learning practices. By the end of their training, EMI TAs will understand their roles and effective strategies in EMI courses.

Current Achievements

Since starting to promote the Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST), National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) has accumulated a considerable number of achievements in the EMI Professional Lecturer Development and Teacher Assistant (TA) Training programs. NTNU not only has abundant experiences in cross-university community management but also has numerous faculty members across various specializations who have completed EMI training and served as Mentors. The EMI TA digital training courses themselves are also diverse and of high quality. In addition, NTNU has been invited to share its experiences in promoting bilingual education to post-secondary institutions including the Center for Bilingual Education of National Taiwan University, the Center for Teaching and Learning Development of National Taipei University of Education, Chung Shan Medical University, National Chung Cheng University, Chung Yuan Christian University, Tzu Chi University, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, National University of Tainan, and Kainan University. We hope to continue sharing lecturer training resources with other universities as we learn and grow together.

As a member of the National Taiwan University System, NTNU has allied with the National Taiwan University and the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology to establish a course-sharing system. In the future, we will be working with neighboring universities to determine a suitable mechanism for the sharing of EMI courses and resources. Furthermore, for our upcoming launch of NTNU Online, we have amassed digital English teaching courses in various specializations from universities nationwide. We hope that this will serve as a foundation for sharing digital course resources from our Regional Resource Center for Bilingual Education in the future.

Organization

The Resource Center for EMI (RCEMI) has appointed one Chief Executive Officer, 2 Vice Executive Officers, 3 Postdoctoral Fellows, and 3 Project Managers. Their office tasks are as follows:

Planning and implementation of 5 major programs: Cross-University Support System Establishment, EMI Professional Development, Professional Learning Community of EMI Instructors, EMI TA Training, Off-site UT Austin.

  1. to develop and promote EMI training courses and events to colleges and universities nationwide.
  2. to coordinate subsidization and assist in system establishment as well as external affairs for promoting EMI training.
  3. to regularly review and check the progress of promotions, performance indicators, and subsidization.

RCEMI adopts a dual-track approach to program promotion and development. On top of sharing resources and supporting EMI teachers and TAs in training, RCEMI is instrumental in developing course modules. RCEMI aims  to effectively assist higher education institutions in Taiwan to foster English lecturers and TAs as well as reap benefits from professional bilingual teaching resource sharing and cross-university collaboration.

Resource Center for EMI (RCEMI)
TEL: (02)-7749-5904 | (02)-7749-5905 | (02)-7749-5922
Office hours: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Email: rcemi@deps.ntnu.edu.tw