Vol. 121 (2026): University language policies in Europe: Challenges and issues in integrating plurilingual and intercultural perspectives
For several years now, universities have been strongly encouraged to develop internationalisation strategies, based on a "managerial vision that has governed the appropriation of the initial definition of internationalisation" (Laforest et al. 2014, 4). These strategies have been developed primarily from a quantitative perspective and are more akin to marketing than to high-quality internationalisation based on an intercultural dimension (Knight, 2011).
In Europe, one of the choices made has been to promote, through funded projects, "European Universities", defined by the European Commission as "transnational alliances of higher education institutions developing long-term institutional and strategic cooperation, based on shared values and principles and aiming to achieve sustainable cooperation". They are intended to "convey strong European values and bring about transformation and international attractiveness"[1] . These alliances, which bring together institutions working in a variety of languages, raise the question of language policies, as these are often presented as serving international attractiveness (Le Lièvre et al. 2018). Under these conditions, how can we promote language and training policies based on the diversity and variability of linguistic and cultural usage, while at the same time enabling the expected encounters and 'sustainable cooperation'?
[1] https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/fr/universites-europeennes-ou-en-est-91855
