English-medium education. Other universities that offer English-medium education (China-Foreign cooperative universities), also known as branch campuses, include University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, United International College, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Shanghai New York University and Wenzhou-Kean University. In 2018 there were over 1000 such China-Foreign program partnerships, but over 200 were terminated due to concerns over quality. Hong Kong Secondary schools in Hong Kong are mainly categorised as EMI schools (English-medium schools) and CMI schools (Chinese-medium schools). Criticisms of English-medium instruction Criticisms in English-medium instruction (EMI) refers to the exacerbation of global and local inequalities through the detrimental effects on linguistic and cultural diversity provoked by English language teaching and in particular English-medium instruction. The internationalisation of education provision, achieved in the European territory thanks to the Bologna Process and boosted by the increased importance of international rankings for universities, has produced a change in the core concept of education. British scholar Jacquelin Widin suggests that education as a public good is no longer a current value in itself but rather an item traded by the defenders of centralised wealth. Moreover, the indicators used in international rankings reward the percentage of international students enrolled in universities. In this situation, English has a hegemonic position in the higher education field. This is one of the reasons why in the last decade there has been a huge increase in the number of bachelor's and master's programmes where teaching is conducted entirely in English (English-taught programs, ETPs). In Europe, it increased from 725 to 8089 in the period between 2001 and 2017. Another reason is universities' interest in increasing their income, especially in places where domestic enrollment is decreasing. Furthermore, some institutions charge domestic students higher fees to enroll in EMI programmes. Enhancing the employability of domestic students, providing them with international competencies is another key motivating factor. Moreover, courses taught entirely in English are seen as indispensable for promoting mobility, cultural diversity, and intercultural understanding. In this situation, English native speakers have an unfair market advantage. On the other hand, non-native speakers have to reach an adequate level of English in order to fulfill the admission requirements in EMI courses. The first issue is about equal access to English learning. Living in an urban or rural area as well as the socio-economic condition of the student have an impact on his chance to learn the English language. Especially in rural areas, there is a