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Universities and colleges in Canada and other English-speaking countries have become increasingly concerned with linguistic and cultural diversity and internationalizing their campuses, both to enhance local and international students' experiences on campus and to prepare them to function in their careers and the larger society. Most international students are non-native English-speaking (NNES) and need support to develop the English language proficiency required for engagement in the academic demands of the Canadian university milieu. This small-scale study at a Canadian university, by way of a survey and follow-up interview, addresses the gap in our understanding between academic skills that are required at the graduate level and those that learners of English find difficult. The findings suggest that by targeting academic skills that are both required and difficult, efficiency can be achieved in the design of programmatic supports for developing English for academic purposes (EAP). The findings further suggest that international students may lack independent strategies for advancing their English-language proficiency and that these too can be targeted in an EAP program.

Presents the author's experiences during the course of his career from academics to administration. Opinion that the leap from a faculty position to one in administration is full of risk; Information that the author has completed his first 1,000 days and nights as the executive director of a Canadian university English-language school; View that going from being a tenure-track professor at a prestigious American graduate school to leading and managing a language school at one of Canada's highest-ranked universities has been tremendously challenging but also very rewarding.