english at novosibirk state university olga khotskina [email protected] coordinator of the english...
TRANSCRIPT
English at Novosibirk State University
Olga Khotskina
coordinator of the English program at NSU
Novosibirsk Academgorodok
NSU is located in Novosibirsk Academgorodok among the research institutes.
NSU history
NSU was founded in 1959 in order to train future scientists and researchers for the institutes of SB RAS. It is still its main purpose as well as providing employees for businesses in Academgorodok.
Unique features of NSU
NSU is a rather small univerity, there are about 6-7 thousand students.
Majority of students are trained to stay in one of research institutes.
The most fundamental fields are physics, chemistry, biology, maths, geology and economics. Making NSU a classical scientific university.
2-2.5 thousand students are postgradutes of Master and PhD programs.
Top5-100 English strategy
A whole section of the NSU development plan is devoted to the creation of educational programs, taught courses, research directions, etc that are to be implemented and carried out in English.
In order to make those measures possible the program of global NSU anglification is being developed.
Anglification of NSU nowadays
There are 150-200 international students at NSU predominantly Chinese taught in Russian and foreigners learning Russian.
There has been developed 4 research English programs (economics, maths) that engage mostly Russian-speaking students and a few international ones.
This year a special adaptation service has been created so far mostly for orientation purpose (Welcome pack).
Anglification of NSU nowadays (continued)
30-50 international professors and researchers work at NSU or institutes, however, no special support and programs are provided so far.
English proficiency of teachers of English and scientific subjects lecturers is being assessed through Cambridge exams (PET-CPE). 20 people so far plus 150 people by the end of 2014.
English at NSU (present situation)
Bachelor students have General English with some elements of ESP or EAP for 3-7 semesters depending of the department.
Mostly international teaching materials are used, such as Inside Out, Headaway, Market Leader and others.
Specific materials have been developed by teachers of English mostly in paper form. Some of such materials have been placed on NSU or personal electronic resources.
English at NSU (present situation - cont.)
Master and PhD students study English for 2 semesters.
Their programs mostly include EAP being developing writing and speaking skills on the basis of their scientific and research materials. Textbooks are only those created by NSU language teachers.
English at NSU (2015 plan)
A unified English program (4 hours per week/ 6 semesters of General English at bachelor level + 1-2 semesters of the optional course set for specific and/or academic purposes) – start with 3rd and 4th year students.
A set of subject courses/programs in English, opional language courses as well as a specialized English support service for Master and PhD students.
English at NSU (2015 plan)
English level proficiency will be checked through Cambridge placement tests (initial and intermediary testing).
Final bachelor program testing will be done through Cambridge English exams (PET-CPE). The necessary min pass for Master programs will be PET.
Minimum requirement for subject teachers will be B1/B2 (or IELTS), and for English teachers C1/C2.
