Title: European language policy and quality assurance tools for management education

Authors: Celine Davesne, Patricia W. Cummins

Addresses: Languages, Cultures and Society Department, Rouen Business School, Boulevard Andre Siegfried, 76826 Mont-Saint-Aignan, France. ' School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, VCU 23284, USA

Abstract: Preparing students to become top managers in today|s global economy represents a major challenge for higher education. This article outlines the statistical data showing the importance of language skills and cultural competence for Europe|s economy, and places in the context of European language policy the roles to be played by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the European Language Portfolio in assuring that those entering the business world will be prepared for a plurilingual and pluricultural Europe. How can schools and universities turn students into global leaders? How do we guarantee that our European graduates meet their employers| future needs for language skills and cultural competence? How does European language policy relate to the higher education curriculum and act as a quality assurance tool? To address these issues, we will describe the international and global context our students face, and then explore how the Council of Europe|s common language rating scale and its complementary language portfolio together function as tools for quality assurance as required by the Bologna process.

Keywords: Bologna Process; CEFR; Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; ELP; European Language Portfolio; GLP; Global Language Portfolio; quality assurance; QA; globalisation; student mobility; EHEA; European Higher Education Area; management education; European language policy; language skills; universities; plurilingual education; pluricultural education; Council of Europe; common language rating scale.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2009.027358

International Journal of Management in Education, 2009 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.388 - 401

Published online: 20 Jul 2009 *

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