EL MOMENTO DE HOMOGENIZACIÓN E INSTITUCIONALIZACIÓN

In BCDJ, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) issued a report highlighting concerns about the low enrolment rates for arts and humanities in the United States and worries that the emphasis on science education risked diminishing other disciplines (AAAS, BCDJ). The nationwide report revealed that in BCDC a mere I.E% of Bachelor’s degrees were granted in arts and humanities. Harvard University also reported a decline in BCDB, with only BC% of its undergraduates majoring in the humanities in the U.S. Concerns about unemployment were one of the main reasons for the decline. However, somewhat of an opposite pattern can be observed in Saudi higher education. Currently, almost PC% of Saudi higher education graduates are enrolled in the humanities, arts and education streams (Al-Ohali and Burdon, BCDJ). In CU, official documents show that a higher number of students enrol in the humanities and administrative track of the PYP than the natural science track. For example, in BCDB the student population in the science track was less than `,CCC whereas the humanities the administrative track had a total of HHCCC students (MoE, BCDEb). This means that more students eventually enrol in colleges that are allocated for the humanities and administrative track (i.e. Arts and Humanities, Law, Economics and Administration, and Communication and Media) than in other STEM colleges.

Within the humanities and administrative track, the College of Arts and Humanities has one of the highest enrolment rates and the English department is one of the most favourable departments for students. This is due to the high demand for English professionals in KSA. The majority of students clearly stated that the English department was their primary choice when applying at CU.

There are a lot of majors in the school of humanities, such as psychology, social science and others but I searched for the major that has more job opportunities in KSA and I found many of these majors don’t have future job opportunities and that’s why I chose English. I found that majoring in English had vast job opportunities in the private and government sectors, and I hope it was the right choice. My choice was not based on interest – it was merely to find a job.

There are people here [College of Arts and Humanities] who study other majors and by the second and third year they become depressed because they see their friends that have graduated from the same department not able to find a job and some of them have good GPAs and I don’t want to make the same mistakes as them.

Student E, Interview, Monday DJth October BCDH (Hth year)

I guess they join the department because they guarantee a job and because other majors in the college are, you know, hardly acceptable in the market but English is and there’s a big demand for professional English speakers in Saudi…if they can’t get a place in other colleges, like medicine or engineering or other fields, they [students] think English is one of the best majors for getting a job nowadays in Saudi Arabia.

NNES Lecturer B, Interview, Sunday D]th October BCDH

These quotes reveal that many students enrolled in the EFL programme are aware of the job market in Saudi Arabia. In their opinion, majoring in English and obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English is more likely to yield a positive future career, compared to other disciplines at the CAH. (SDD) and (SE) expressed their fears of unemployment and stated that this is mostly based on previous experiences of students that have graduated from other disciplines within the college. This suggest that students are aware of the difference between disciplines in relation to their market value, and many believe that due to the need of EFL teachers in the country, the English department is their best career choice. This supports Ashwin (BCC]) suggestion that the notion field can be examined from different levels within an institution (i.e. the college and departmental level) and that each sub-field develops its own forms of symbolic capital. Moreover, in many cases, students who fail to obtain the minimum requirements to join any of the STEM colleges at CU decide to join the English language department. The following students state that joining the English department was their second choice:

Studying English as a major was not my first choice. At first I wanted to be an engineer but my GPA was lower than what the university required for that major, so I decided to study in the English department because it’s the next best thing.

Student P, Interview, Friday DCth October BCDH (Jrd year)

When in high school I was thinking to enrol in the engineering department. Actually, I hate the language, the English language, and my

English grades were really low in high school. When I graduated and registered with the university I couldn’t get admission to the engineering department and I decided to apply to the English department.

Student H, Interview, Wednesday `th October BCDH (Hth year)

These students show that they first applied to STEM colleges (e.g. engineering) and not the CAH. When these students were unsuccessful in joining STEM colleges, they decided to apply for the English department because it was the “next best thing” (SP). These quotes suggest that there is a large influx of students joining the CAH in general and the English language department in particular.

5.4. Institutional influences of CU on the EFL programme

This section presents the institutional influences of CU on the EFL programme. These influences are analysed by examining different components of the programme such as the entry requirements for the EFL programme, class size, lecturers’ attitudes and perceptions of students, the use of English as the medium of instruction, and assessment. The data collected from documents and interviews as well as observations show that these components have a significant impact on teaching and learning in the EFL programme. Thus, the analysis provides an in- depth understanding of how the programme is affected by institutional influences.