Tilburg University: better English required to enrol

n the future, foreign students will need better English skills. To enrol in an English-language bachelor's or master's, they must attain a minimum level in writing, speaking, listening, and reading. This proposal from the Executive Board will be discussed by the University Council on 1 February. The prerequisites for starting an international bachelor's or master's will become stricter: students from abroad who enrol in an English-language bachelor's must score six points on the nine-point scale of the IELTS test. For master's students, 6.5 points will become the minimum. In addition to the above, foreign students will have to perform well in all four language skills that are tested: writing, speaking, listening and reading. "Up till now the average IELTS score counted. So a Chinese student who scored badly in speaking could compensate for this with a high score for writing. But obviously that doesn't work in the classroom, where you have to interact a lot", states Riet Bettonviel, coordinator for English at the Language Centre. The minimum level for each skill will be 5.5 for the bachelor's and 6.0 for the master's. Dutch students will also have to be better prepared. Now, all students who take a Dutch bachelor's in Tilburg can enrol in an international Tilburg master's without a requirement to fulfil language conditions. The Executive Board wishes to make a language test compulsory for all students choosing a programme in English. If they fail the test, they will have to take an extra language course. This is too late, according to Jan Bolle, chairman of ECCO, the student faction at the Faculty of Economics. He suggests offering the courses much earlier, as part of the Dutch bachelor's. "A lot of these students are very eager to improve their English, but the courses fill up very quickly." To counter this problem, the Board aims to enlarge the budget for these courses on a modest scale. [SD]//Univers of Tilburg University