PEP - Capacity Building for Professional English Programs

The goal of the PEP project is to develop institutional and staff capacity for Professional English at 6 universities in Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. In the short run (by the end of the project, 2025), this will strengthen the English language and scientific writing capacity of students and researchers at the francophone universities and the capacity of partners to offer Professional English Programs. In the medium to long run (2025-30), the modernization of their Professional English Programs will increase the universities’ ability to do more international research, education and collaboration.The specific objectives are:1. Develop strategies, frameworks and activities for Professional English Programs2. Strengthen the capacity of language teachers for Professional English teaching3. Increase the skills of students and researchers for scientific communication and writing in EnglishThe PEP project combines staff/teacher training and exchanges of good practices in language teaching with piloting new courses and strategic discussions of institutional implementation/upgrades of Professional English Programms. 4 target groups: 1. Professional English Programs: Upgrade/implement 6 Professional English language programs with a focus on oral communication and academic writing skills. 2. Language teachers: The project will train 12 language teachers in teaching innovative Professional English courses. 3. Master/PhD students: In the test phase of course pilot 1, our 12 African language teachers will deliver a new oral communication/presentation skills in English course to a total of 90 graduate students (6x15 participants)4. Researchers: In the test phase of the pilot course 2, our African language teachers will deliver an academic writing in English course to 90 researchers (post-doc and professor level, 6x15 participants)We will publish a handbook with recommendations, good practice examples and the course models developed by the PEP consortium.