English-Medium Instruction, the Internationalization of Higher Education (IHE) and Graduate Employability: A Nuanced Conversation About Social Justice

In this chapter, we focus in particular on the relationships between English as (a) Medium of Instruction (EMI), the internationalization of higher education (IHE), and graduate employability so as to offer a fresh and balanced lens through which to interrogate issues surrounding social justice in the very domain of EMI. We maintain that many of the benefits and opportunities underlying EMI and IHE may be realized when the many social justice concerns are also addressed and accounted for. To build further on the existing scholarship on EMI, and, as will be shown throughout the chapter, we offer a nuanced analysis and discussion of the complex EMI picture. We also examine in what ways varied existing EMI ideologies, policies, practices, and pedagogies may (unintentionally) perpetuate social injustices, particularly in Asia. Then, we put forward that among many ideas that could be adopted to reduce social injustices in the EMI landscape, the well-developed framework of graduate employability by Tomlinson (2017) may offer a practical and aspirational solution for institutions opting for EMI. We also attempt to come up with several social-justice-oriented principles that integrate EMI, IHE, and graduate employability that others can draw on and build further.