Many tertiary educational institutes are adopting English as the medium of instruction (MOI) globally. In 2014, a publicly funded university in Hong Kong introduced a new language policy that marked a major shift in practice by switching the main MOI to English from Classical Written Chinese and spoken Cantonese, the predominant local language. The new policy caused some anxiety among staff and students as to how the change might be implemented effectively.This chapter analyzes this transitional process through a case study including surveys and interviews. After the introduction of the context in terms of the language-in-education policies and other changes, the case study findings are presented in terms of the perceptions of the reforms and challenges experienced by the staff and students. It then reports how these challenges were addressed through different support measures with some success, and the principles pinning down those initiatives. It also analyzes how the reform created impacts in unintended areas, such as potential mission drift. It concludes with a reiteration of the evolutionary nature of MOI and other educational reforms, and some suggestions on planning and managing those reforms to minimize the reform costs. Copyright © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Lily I-wen Su, Hintat Cheung, and Jessica R. W. Wu; individual chapters, the contributors.

Due to the competitive edge it confers on students, educational institutions, and non-English speaking nations in a globalized economy, English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has been gaining popularity in tertiary education in non-native English-speaking (NNES) countries. Institute-wide EMI implementation has often been imposed by top-down decisions, in combination with the optimistic view that the horse should always be placed before the cart. However, emerging evidence suggests that the delivery of such programs to NNES students has led to new pedagogical challenges and learning problems that go beyond the scope of language learning and teaching and deserve immediate attention. For example, how would an instructor respond to situations in which students’ learning of content is compromised by their limited language proficiency? This book draws on the current practice of EMI in diverse disciplines and university settings and examines how these new pedagogical and learning issues can be addressed. The discussion also involves a reflection on the essence of EMI in relation to the use of the first language (L1) as the medium of instruction in tertiary education. In addition, the book includes discussion about how to ensure and maintain the quality of EMI programs and assess the readiness of stakeholders for such programs, which include administrators, teachers, and students. The discussion is led by exemplars in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the majority of students are native Chinese speakers, in the hope of developing critical perspectives and practical guidelines as references for EMI in other NNES settings. Copyright © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Lily I-wen Su, Hintat Cheung, and Jessica R. W. Wu; individual chapters, the contributors.