INTERNATIONALISING THE UNIVERSITY IN ITS ENTIRETY: A SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR ALL STAFF

Nowadays many universities worldwide are revisiting their internationalisation policies in the light of the continuously developing international labour market and recent trends in university entrepreneurship, together with economic and industrial development, and global talent migration. The ultimate goal of a leading university to supersede others may also be complemented by objectives of efficient mutually beneficial partnerships. English as a language of international communication in business, science and education pushes the boundaries in preparing all university staff categories for a competitive work environment in increasingly internationalised communities.

Delivering a university degree educational programme in English by English speaking research and teaching academics is highly complex yet is only the “tip of the iceberg”, as at the same time a great amount of work on university positioning and networking, student recruitment and support, organisation of academic exchange, and other vital functions in the institution’s operation are performed by a wide range of university staff members whose proficiency in English also plays an important role in university internationalisation processes.

This paper discusses the system of in-house comprehensive training in English as a foreign language developed and offered for all staff categories at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), Russia. The training includes programmes designed in international partnership with the University of Southampton (UoS), UK, for senior managers, research and teaching staff. The paper presents the TPU experience of developing English training trajectories for all categories of university staff: professional services; researchers and academics, senior managers. The goals and content of programmes are related to each staff category’s professional activities. The principles of the training system organization implemented in TPU are discussed with possible recommendations formulated which can be applicable for other universities of non-English speaking countries on the way to raising their international recognition and profile.