British Council – English for Universities Project

Borg was the external evaluator for EfU and responsible for defining the evaluation questions and framework, data collection and analysis, and report writing. A presentation to a high-level audience including the Minister of Higher Education also took place. The questions addressed in the evaluation were: (i) To what extent did EfU lead to changes in the way ESP courses are designed, organised and assessed?; (ii) To what extent did EfU impact on the classroom practices of ESP teachers?; (iii) To what extent did EfU impact on the teaching of EMI teachers who participated in the training?; and (iv) Did EfU have other benefits for the work of ESP teachers and EMI lecturers? Fieldwork was conducted in eight universities over three weeks during October and November 2018. Overall, 51 individual interviews with ESP and EMI teachers were completed, together with 21 focus group sessions with teachers and students, and 13 interviews with HoDs (ESP and EMI). Additionally, a total of 61 lessons were observed, split almost equally between ESP and EMI. In terms of time, over 30 hours of interviews were conducted together with over 36 hours of lesson observations. Additionally, four questionnaires were distributed to HoDs, ESP teachers, over 2,200 ESP students, and EMI lecturers.