Keys for successful English-medium instruction in the Finnish-medium Degree Program in Business Information Systems

Abstract

Good English skills are important in the field of IT. For this and other reasons, the second academic year in the degree program in Business Information System (BIS) is taught and studied in English. Based on the study by Niva [1], most of the students and teachers in BIS support EMI, but some think that Finnish students in a Finnish-medium degree program should be taught only in Finnish. As one of the most fundamental decisions about the ways of implementing EMI, exchange students’ integration into the Finnish group as well as the division of the student teams consisting of at least one international student and Finnish students and active working in student teams were the keys for success. Finally, EMI may succeed in BIS although opinions, attitudes and experiences in EMI, the adequacy of language skills, and Finnish in-class communication provoke discussion.