Internationalizing the business school: A comparative analysis of English-medium and Spanish-medium instruction impact on student performance

Abstract

Business degrees have been pioneers in adopting the internationalization of Higher Education Institutions with the option of English as Medium of Instruction (EMI). Research has grown about the EMI versus non-EMI lecturers and students’ performance measured through perception, motivation, discursive analysis or satisfaction measures. However, results have not been conclusive in the scarce number of papers comparing quantitative course grades of EMI versus non-EMI students. The aim of this research paper is to prove that there is no difference in attaining learning objectives among students within a Business Administration Degree in Spain regardless the language of instruction. The present observational study considers all enrolled freshman throughout a horizon of six consecutive years allowing more reliable results not affected by the specificities of courses or years. All 212 students in the EMI track were matched to non-EMI track counterparts taking into account all available covariates. Results not only show that there is no difference in the attained learning objectives between the two tracks, but also that EMI students' grades are in fact better than their non-EMI counterparts, which might help to remove the believe many still have on the lower academic attainment of those following an EMI track.