An analysis of the rise of English-taught programmes in the North Macedonian context: the impact of policy spillover
Abstract
This study examines the proliferation of English-medium instruction (EMI) within North Macedonia’s higher education system, a context emblematic of broader regional trends towards Europeanisation in the Western Balkans. Moving beyond the steering at a distance framework (Kickert, 1995), we analyse EMI development through the lens of post-socialist state-building and marketisation. Employing social process tracing (Kaas et al., 2025), we analysed higher education policy documents and regulations, complemented by interviews with key decision-makers to map the trajectory of English-taught programmes. Contrary to the assumption that EMI growth is driven by explicit language planning, our findings reveal a consistent pattern of policy spillover. We demonstrate that while no national policy explicitly mandated EMI, successive reforms—aimed variously at multilingual inclusion, privatisation, marketisation, Bologna harmonisation, and institutional liberalisation—inadvertently created the conditions for EMI to thrive. This study contributes to the literature by reframing EMI institutionalisation not merely as a pedagogical or linguistic goal, but as an institutionalised by-product of broader governance transformations. These findings offer significant implications for policymakers and researchers, suggesting that effective language planning requires analysing the unintended consequences of macro-level governance reforms.