DESIGNING AN INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAMME TOWARDS THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF A LOCAL PUBLIC UNIVERSITY: THE IELP / ISFP EXPERIENCE

The concept of the internationalization of universities has currently been a major trend since the advent of Globalization especially in the Asian sphere with China, Japan and Korea (to name a few) becoming a major world market commodity for both import and export of products including in Education. The internationalization of universities is emphasized for various reasons primarily to introduce, promote and establish the University as a premier higher learning institution of global standing in areas of academic, research, and publication. In developed countries, internationalization has long been administered specifically in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom. Hence, it is important that universities of the Asian region are not left behind in efforts of creating advancement and improved collaborative networks with foreign students, academicians, and other higher learning institutions. In relation to this paper, the primary use of the English Language has played a major role in directing many international students towards choosing a specific university in the Asian region which has created a tremendous challenge due to the fact that most of these universities are almost abode to the wide use of their own National Languages. English has been an attractive medium of choice for many foreign students from all over the world especially for students from non-English speaking countries as they understand the acceptation of English as the Global Language. This paper shares a new local public Malaysian university’s experience in emphasizing the role of ESL towards promoting both Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes through the Intensive English Language Programme (IELP / ISFP) to students of other nations and simultaneously answering the calls of internationalization of universities in this region.