Long-Run Labour-Market Effects of EMI Quality Assurance in Mexican Public Universities

The systematic integration of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) within tertiary education systems serves as a primary vehicle for enhancing graduate competitiveness in increasingly globalised labour markets. Across Latin America and emerging economies, higher education institutions implement English-taught degree programmes to facilitate access to transnational research networks and integrate domestic graduates into high-value knowledge sectors [5], [7]. However, the economic returns of these initiatives depend substantially on robust quality assurance frameworks that regulate pedagogical delivery and academic rigor [8]. Without formal quality control mechanisms, the transition towards English-medium curricula often encounters severe structural deficiencies that impair disciplinary mastery and reduce long-term employment returns.

In public university environments, the implementation of EMI frequently exposes deep structural disparities in institutional funding, faculty linguistic competence, and instructional readiness [3], [5]. When quality assurance protocols fail to monitor teacher proficiency and curricular alignment, students experience significant communicative barriers rather than acquiring enhanced disciplinary literacy [3], [7]. This operational shortfall risks transforming an intended vehicle for social mobility into a mechanism that widens regional labour market inequality, particularly within economies characterized by uneven industrial development.

This dissertation investigates the systemic relationship between institutional quality assurance architectures in Mexican public universities and the longitudinal labour market trajectories of their graduates. By evaluating the alignment between formal evaluation protocols, instructional implementation, and subsequent occupational mobility, the study clarifies the operational mechanisms that translate educational language policy into sustained professional dividends [4], [8]. The resulting findings provide critical empirical insights for reforming tertiary language accreditation standards and aligning higher education policies with broader economic development imperatives.

The doctoral investigation contributes a comprehensive comparative synthesis of public higher education governance, addressing persistent analytical gaps in how state-level accreditation bodies evaluate non-native medium instruction [1], [8]. Grounded in institutional economics and applied linguistics, the inquiry establishes rigorous evaluation criteria for assessing instructional efficacy and long-term socio-economic returns across diverse public university systems.