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This paper discusses the potential of language centres in higher education as laboratories for innovation. Despite their hybrid character as central service providers that are also defined by their teaching, their positioning at the academic periphery, and the lack of a mandate to do academic research, language centres still have an obligation to conduct research as a means of promoting innovation. The design-based research (DBR) approach in learning and teaching, in which teaching stakeholders examine learning processes in real situation, offers a suitable opportunity for language centres to overcome the restrictions placed upon them. DBR can be done using existing resources and the innovation potential of a language centre's teaching staff. The leadership and management of the language centre must be made responsible for providing and/or enabling the necessary structural, material, and cultural conditions for such research. This paper discusses the DBR approach at language centres in higher education and its impact on leadership. It then gives two examples of the successful implementation of DBR at the Language Center of UZH and ETH Zurich.

This article explores the impact of language policy issues on program development and management at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Language Center. Based on the analysis of the language policy approach of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, the article reflects both current practices and policy elements with the help of the categories offered by François Grin (2010). Part of the data collected was also considered in 2011 while answering a questionnaire on Language Policy in Higher Education in Switzerland. The Swiss Institute of Multilingualism, in charge of gathering the data for Switzerland for the pan-European project Language Rich Europe, managed by the British Council and co-financed by the European Commission (British Council/European Commission 2010-2013), had approached our Language Center in this matter. In a wider context, the present survey is a case study reflecting the situation of two major Swiss Universities outside the European Union. The article shows that both the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich lack a consistent language policy document at institutional level, while showing a cautious approach to questions of future language governance. It argues that the impact of this approach leads to the constant readjustment of the strategic goals of program development by the Language Center's director through regular needs analysis interviews with the stakeholders in the departments and faculties, and to a continuous fine-tuning of pedagogical formats by the heads of units. A further qualitative study will be be carried out in 2012 through focus group interviews with different stakeholder groups, e.g. deans, program directors, students and representatives of (doctoral) students' unions, in order to collect more specific data as a basis for more detailed analysis and interpretation.