Senate

Subject: Amendment to the English Language Requirements Policy for Entry to Postgraduate Taught Programmes

Origin: Academic Registry

The current English language requirements, which can be found at http://lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/international/prospective/englishlang/pgt/index.htm, state that:

“All applicants for admission to postgraduate taught programmes whose first language is not English must have a qualification in the English language before they can be admitted to any course or programme “

The University accepts a wide range of English language qualifications including IELTS and TOEFL and the full list can be found at http://lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/international/prospective/englishlang/pgt/index.htm

The requirements also states that:

“Students whose first language is not English, but who have been taught and examined fully in English throughout their first degree or equivalent programme, must provide written evidence which the University may be prepared to accept in place of the normal qualifications in English Language listed above. The University reserves the right to require applicants to undertake further pre-entry tuition in English language where there is recent evidence that their existing level of English falls below the normal minimum standard.”

The ability for applicants to use evidence that their undergraduate degree has been conducted and examined in English, to meet the University’s entry requirements, has caused a number of problems:

1) Some applicants from certain countries, including Pakistan, have been required to present IELTS certificate, at a level of 6.5 or above, as part of their visa application process. The University has deemed these same applicants to have met the English language requirement on the basis of evidence that their degrees were conducted and examined in English and have therefore issued them with unconditional offers. As a result some applicants do not make preparations to take an IELTS test and are therefore unable to do so in good time to obtain a visa and arrive for the start of their programme

2) Cases have arisen where applicants, with similar academic backgrounds, have provided evidence that their undergraduate degrees were conducted and examined in English. However, some of these applicants have also submitted IELTS below 6.5 and the University has therefore issued them with an offer conditional upon either retaking their IELTS test or attending an appropriate pre-sessional English language course. Some applicants in this situation have raised the issue of why their colleagues, who have not submitted any IELTS certificates, have been permited unconditional entry.

The above issues and the fact that a number of applicants are submitting IELTS or other qualifications below required standards as well as evidence that their undergraduate studies were conducted and examined in English suggest that there is a case for the relevant part of the University’s current English Language requirements to be amended in order to provide greater clarity.

The following is proposed:

1) The removal of the ability to meet the requirements on the basis of evidence of an applicants’ undergraduate studies being taught and examined fully in English throughout their first degree or equivalent programme.

2) The following minimum requirements to be added to the list of acceptable English language qualifications:

a. West African Examination Council Senior School Certificate Exam (WEAC SSCE) - Grade C6 or above. (This relates to applicants who have been educated in a wide number of African countries including Nigeria and Ghana)

b. Standard 12 – 80% or above (This relates to applicants who have been educated in India)

c. College Entrance Examination Board (Scholastic Aptitude Test) (SAT I and SAT II) – Score of 550 or above in the verbal test (this relates to applicants who have been educated in the USA)

d. Pass English language within State Senior Secondary Certificate of Education with at least 50% (this relates to applicants who have been educated in Canada)

e. Pass English language within Provincial Secondary School Certificate or Diploma with at least 50% (this relates to applicants who have been educated in Australia)

f. Undergraduate degree from a University in the UK with a minimum of a Second Class Honours (2:2) (this relates to applicants who have undertaken their undergraduate studies in the UK)

3) The current discretionary authority available to Associate Deans (Teaching) to exempt, where appropriate, individual applicants from the University’s minimum English Language matriculation standard to remain.

4) The relevant section of the Admissions Policy (section II, 6, vii) to be changed from: “qualifications or experience in use of the English language” to “qualifications in the use of the English language”

Tawfiq Wolff, Academic Registry

October 2007