English Medium Instruction in Higher Education: Challenges from Student Perspectives

Abstract

Globalization creates great impact on education throughout the world. The global inter connections in politics, economy, socio cultures, science and many other aspects in life bring challenges in education. Higher education in Indonesia should meet the challenges to keep up with the urge of globalization, rapid science development and academic internationalization. The use of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education in Indonesia,one of the Non-English speaking countries, has become one of the efforts to improve the quality of learning as well as proficiency in using English.This research aims to study the implementation of EMI in higher education from the perspective of students. The analysis focused on challenges and benefits experienced by students during their study. This research used qualitative approach based on case study in Ciputra University Business Management International study program that uses EMI in all subjects.Data was collected from in-depth interview with active students who had been studying more than one year to obtain detailed description of their experiences. The result indicates that students experience difficulties and challenges during their studies as well as benefits that increase their quality of study and competitiveness in the future International business or job market.