5th EMI webinar – Academic intercultural (communicative) competence: Work in progress

The webinar will take place online on Thursday 17 April 2025, from 12:00 to 13:00 (CEST). It will be delivered by Michael Byram, from Durham University (UK) and Sofia University (Bulgaria), and Lynne Parmenter, from Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan).

This is the fifth event in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) seminar series for 2024-25 run by Maynooth University and titled “Academic intercultural (communicative) competence: Work in progress”.

The speakers will present the view that working in a new academic environment involves much more than proficiency in the language of the environment. Whether the language is “the same” as that used by students in their familiar environment or different and “foreign”, they are bound to have new (academic) cultural experiences and draw on their intercultural competence.

Participants will be introduced to a model of Academic Intercultural (Communicative) Competence and will learn about its implications for practice, including contexts of EMI. This webinar is open to students, academic staff, and non-academic staff from Arqus universities, providing an opportunity to engage with leading experts in the field.

About the speakers

Michael Byram studied languages at King’s College Cambridge, wrote a PhD in Danish literature, and taught French and German in secondary and adult education. He then went to Durham University in 1980 in the School of Education and is now professor emeritus and a guest research professor at Sofia University, Bulgaria, where he co-edited The Experience of Examining the PhD. An International Comparative Study of Processes and Standards of Doctoral Examination. In the 2000s, he was an adviser to the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe, and he recently co-edited Quality and Equity in Education. A Practical Guide to the Council of Europe Vision of Education for Plurilingual, Intercultural and Democratic Citizenship.

Lynne Parmenter is a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, where she works with master’s and PhD students in an EMI context. She has previously worked at universities in Japan, the UK, and Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her teaching and research both focus on internationalisation of higher education, intercultural education and positive peace education.

Participation in the webinar is free, but registration is required.