The seminar series on multilingualism started off with a first hybrid event on November 28 in Ghent. Professor Kristina Hultgren, Professor of Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at The Open University in the United Kingdom, spoke about "The hidden drivers of English as an academic language in Europe: Retheorizing the rise of English as an outcome of higher education governance reforms".
In this talk, hosted by professor Stef Slembrouck (Ghent University), professor Hultgren talked about the rise of English as an academic language. She hypothesized that higher education governance reforms, centred on “steering at a distance”, drive English in universities in non-English-dominant countries in Europe.
Details of the next event in this seminar series will follow soon.