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Some universities in the UK have been offering university preparation courses for a number of years. The university language centre at the University of Manchester has provided new international students with an option to take an academic preparation course before starting their degree programmes for the last 30 years, says Justine Hinton-Lever at the university.
“It is important to ensure that students have reached the required level of English for their degree courses, acquired the study skills and academic English needed and are familiar with the university facilities and resources, and living in Manchester,” she says.
The range of academic preparation courses on offer in the UK varies from pre-sessional summer courses, which last for a few weeks and are for students about to start on a mainstream degree programme, to year-long foundation programmes – for those applying to study on a degree programme but who don’t have the necessary English skills – and finally diploma programmes, which provide entry into the second year of an undergraduate degree programme.
While for many students, improving English language skills is the main priority for undertaking an academic preparation course, increasingly, course providers are noting demand for more academic-based courses as a way of gentle introduction into a degree subject. The University of Manchester encourages all international students to undertake their pre-sessional courses, even if language requirements have already been fulfilled, while Jane Magee from the English Language Teaching Centre at the University of St Andrews asserts, “Foundation programmes are a vital bridge for students [from] another country.”
Magee adds, “Above all, a foundation programme is an opportunity to get a good academic grounding in the subjects which students hope to major in, not all of which are studied at school, and this gives international students the knowledge and confidence to get their studies off to a flying start.“
A recent development in academic preparation provision in the UK is the launch of Into University Partnerships, which plans to set up partnerships with universities throughout the UK to offer academic preparation courses (see Education Travel Magazine, July 2006, page 50). Janet Oag from the Into University of East Anglia, which is located in a new £35 million (US$67.9 million) facility, says that their preparation courses on offer are made up of 70 per cent academic content, and this has increased since the establishment of the Into centre at the university. “We offer three streams of foundation so that the subject areas covered are relevant to [various] degree studies,” she says. “Students who benefit most are those who have completed 12 rather than 13 years of schooling and need some kind of academic bridge between where they are and what is required for academic success.”
David Morrison from AbleEnglish School in Glasgow points out that these types of programme are attractive to students from certain countries in particular. “Both the Chinese and Polish groups share a very strong desire to succeed in endeavours they decide to pursue,” he says. “Academic preparation courses are a means of [students] assuring themselves that their time at university or in professional studies is not wasted by failing in, for example, reading or listening comprehension.”
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