Bilingualism in colombian higher education

|BILINGUALISM IN COLOMBIAN HIGHER EDUCATION |

|Bilingualism is a very popular word today in Colombia. The importance of knowing English and/orother foreign language(s) is |
|evident. The person who is fluent in more than one language has more possibilities to get a scholarship in foreign countries, |
|to get a better job, to get a betterlife. Colombia nowadays is much more open to the rest of the world in business, education,|
|tourism. These are the reasons why Colombian universities should follow a bilingual path.|
|We have some bilingual schools where kids can learn English, German or French quite well. Nevertheless, the huge majority of |
|freshmen at universities do not havegood bases in languages different from Spanish. The Ministry of Education has launched a |
|National Program of Bilingualism 2004-2019 which proposes to raise the level of English in every step ofColombian education.  |
|Some universities started reviewing curriculums, in order to offer better English courses. Some demand that every student must |
|pass an international English test, inorder to graduate the university. However, it is important to understand that |
|bilingualism in high school and at the university level is not the same thing. The most important differenceis that for |
|university students English is a very important tool in their future professional life. That is why the English language that |
|they study should be adapted for academicpurposes, making emphasis on reading and listening comprehension. Another huge step |
|to spread the bilingualism at universities is organizing some bilingual programs, where the students can takeseveral bilingual|
|courses disregarding their capacity in English when they start their studies. Yet, every student should have strong will to |
|participate in this bilingual program....