HIGHER EDUCATION GLOBALIZATION: EXPLORING INTERNATIONAL OPINION ON UNIVERSITY LANGUAGE POLICY

The paper explores challenges that higher education currently faces within the framework of globalization and internationalization, which are conditioned by objective and subjective factors of world development in the third millennium. The particular attention is drawn to the role of language in the HE internationalization. English is viewed as lingua franca though the importance of integrating English, mother tongue and a possible second foreign language in the academic curricula is underlined. The research was to explore international understanding and vision regarding the language potential to meet challenges and constraints that higher education is facing within the context of its move towards internationalization. The above goal is reached through analysis of opinions of those who work within higher education.The methodolog y integrated desk research and field research and aggregated data from academic findings, interviews with education policy makers, national government bodies representatives, education institutions administrators and professors engaged in the events under European Parliament, international conferences on education, strategic sessions of the Russian Universities that participate in the Russia-wide academic excellence project 5-100.Totally 134 respondents took part in the interviews.A number of constrains have been identified and respondents' comments have been processed and summarized.Concluding remarks provide recommendations regarding the design and implementation of language policy for internationally oriented university.