Teacher Discussion Forums

If a non-native speaker wants to study English at a British university, what is the normal requirement? Do they have to pass the FCE exam or the CAE exam, and if so, at what level? Or do different schools have different requirements? Is TOEFL ever accepted? I have a student who may one day study at a foreign university.

Hi there,
In the UK different universities have different language requirements, and even within a university the requirements may be different depending on the course. The language requirements to do a Maths course will probably be lower than to do a course requiring lots of language use, eg English or History. British universities use the IELTS test for their entrance requirements. If you look at the websites for universities and look up course requirements you will see what IELTS mark they want from international students. This is often around the 6.5 level (which is approx TOEFL 577/232) or Proficiency level.
Hope this helps.

That's a good summary.

Some universities will accept CAE, CPE or TOEFL (very rarely FCE), but IELTS is by far the best choice for the UK, Australia etc- not only is it accepted all over, it also has the kind of language they will need once they start studying.