The Challenges and Potential Triumphs of Collaboration: Co-designing a Professional English Programme with West African Universities.  

The English Language Centre has recently begun a collaboration on PEP (Professional English Programme); a new Erasmus+ funded project between two European universities - University of Galway and Uppsala University - and six West African universities. University of Galway became involved in the project through our ties with Uppsala University via the ENLIGHT programme. The goal of the PEP project is to develop institutional and staff capacity for Professional English at universities in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.  

The project aims to contribute to the development of English language skills which will significantly strengthen students’ employability prospects and researchers’ ability to publish in English language journals, present their research at international conferences and participate more actively in international research collaborations, including securing funding for international research projects, thus becoming more self-sufficient. 

As part of the project, all of the universities involved recently visited two of our partner institutions, the University of San Pedro and INPHB, in the Cote D’Ivoire for a week of workshops and discussions aimed at developing the PEP curriculum, and to participate in promotional activities to enhance the breadth and the depth of the project to potential stakeholders (including both staff and students). Both institutions facilitated the implementation of ‘Language Days’ which enabled the teaching team from the project to meet with students and to teach mini-lessons. In addition, we were able to meet with the senior management team at both institutions to promote the PEP project and its benefits to staff, students, and on a broader institutional level.  

The entire trip proved very beneficial not only in terms of the project itself but also from a socio-cultural perspective; navigating the nuances of differing cultural perspectives can be both challenging and enlightening, but one of the guiding principles of the PEP project is that everyone’s ideas, opinions, and perspectives are equally valid as tools of engagement. 

The next meeting of the PEP team is at Uppsala University in September, where we will aim to further build upon the fruitful foundations of our week in the Cote D’Ivoire. 

If you are interested in this project, or have experienced similar capacity building projects then feel free to get in touch:  

paul.williamson@universityofgalway.ie  

maeve.m.egan@universityofgalway.ie  

This is a Erasmus+ Funded Capacity Building for Professional English Program (PEP)

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