English as a Medium of Instruction. Motivation or Frustration for Service Marketing Students in Germany?

The globalization of economic activities inevitably leads to an Englishization in higher education. Universities introduce English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) to improve their internationalization and attract international students. However, by far not all EMI courses use English as the only language of instruction, while benefits and challenges of EMI in higher education are divergently discussed in extant literature. In the frame of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, this study focuses on the student perspective on the EMI course Service Marketing that is taught exclusively in English at Paderborn University in Germany. The findings of an online structured interview (n = 43) show that students of EMI courses generally attribute high levels of importance to the English language, especially for their future career. Further, the results reveal insights into motivating and frustrating factors as well as expectations of the lecturer and resulting reflections on teaching activities in EMI courses.