Unicatt

Search

EME


Internationalising the higher education classroom and the use of English-medium education (EME).
 

Are you teaching an international class? Are you teaching your subject in English? 
Come and share your perspectives with colleagues.
Explore approaches, strategies and techniques for teaching international classes in English.      

Below is the calendar of the upcoming courses. They are in-person workshops and will be held in Milan campus. You may apply for all workshops or only for individual ones. Just keep in mind that Workshop One offers a general introduction to all workshop topics and should be completed before enrolling in any other workshop. If you would like to enrol in Workshop Two please complete Workshop One first.

For further information on the content of the workshops, please refer to the descriptions below.

                                            
Workshops February 2026
Workshop
Day
Time
Deadline to enroll
ONE 5 February 14.30 - 17.30 February 3
TWO 10 February 14.30 - 17.30 February 6
THREE 12 February 14.30 - 17.30 February 10
FOUR 19 February 14.30 - 17.30 February 17

 

Enrolments

Registrations will open in early January.
Participation is free of charge for Università Cattolica academic staff. Workshops are also open to teachers from other higher education institutions. Please contact us for further information.

Description of the workshops

If you have already taken part in EME workshops with us and would like to go deeper into aspects of teaching an international class, please contact the Centre so that we can propose other content for you.

 

This workshop positions teaching in English within the broader context of internationalisation. It introduces the main concepts that relate to teaching in international programmes through English. Participants will reflect on their own teaching practice and gain awareness of effective strategies for multicultural and multilingual learning spaces. The workshop is aimed at academic staff who already teach international classes in English or who may do so in the future. It should be completed before taking part in CHEI's other workshops. 

In this workshop you will take part in a microteaching session and give feedback on your colleagues' mini-lectures. You will have a chance to try out strategies proposed in workshop One. The workshop is an opportunity to share classroom strategy for international and EME contexts and learn from each other. 
Workshop One offers a general introduction to all workshop topics and should be completed before enrolling in any other workshop. If you would like to enrol in Workshop 2 please complete Workshop One first.

This half-day workshop focuses on the challenges presented by assessment in international classes taught in English. It also looks at the important role of feedback in teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to present and potentially re-work learning outcomes and assessment criteria for their courses.

Although we welcome registration from all academic staff, in order to get the most out of this workshop we recommend that participants first take part in Workshop One.

It is often assumed that students in international contexts will become sensitive to diversity and learn to work collaboratively, but to do so, they usually need support. 

This workshop looks at definitions of intercultural competence and addresses the role of culture in the international classroom. It provides practical strategies for embedding intercultural learning opportunities in classroom practice, using groupwork, reflection and intercultural communication.

 

This workshop gives a practical explanation of how a COIL project works and the reasons why teachers might want to include this type of project in their curriculum.

The workshop considers learning objectives, how to establish collaborations with teachers and universities from other countries and the benefits that students acquire from participating in such projects.

More about the EME Workshops

As part of an overall move towards the internationalisation of higher education, academic staff are increasingly required to play their part by teaching courses in English to international classes. This broad development is leading to a growing demand for support in developing skills and strategies for internationalising the classroom, which may require re-designing and delivering courses in English.

The missioon of Università Cattolica's Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation includes undertaking activities to support internationalisation. After a successful first international symposium on the subject of English-medium instruction in higher education held in May 2016, the Centre responded to demand by offering training designed specifically to develop strategies and tools for EMI and the international classroom. A second international symposium on English-medium instruction was held on 25 May 2018 in Rome, in conjunction with the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

Our EME modules are delivered by a highly-qualified professional team of educational developers and affiliated faculty. The team leads a small cohort in critical reflection and analysis of the latest developments in effective teaching in the international classroom, including English-medium education. At the same time participants are given the opportunity to put newly acquired strategies and techniques into practice and to share experiences with colleagues from other faculties and disciplines.

 

Publications on English-medium education

The proceedings from our 1st International Symposium on English-medium Instruction are available here.

EMI and Beyond: Internationalising Higher Education Curricula in Italy. Lynn Mastellotto and Renata Zanin (eds). Bozen-Bolzano University Press, 2021. This volume contains papers by our educational developers Francesca Costa and Olivia Mair, and CHEI Director, Amanda Murphy.