Universities urged to help improve English proficiency

Taiwan’s Consumers’ Foundation has called on local universities to take responsibility for improving English-language skills among their students, in view of the fact that a certain standard of English proficiency is a prerequisite to obtaining a degree, reports Focus Taiwan.

Language training and testing have become a business with tremendous market value in Taiwan since 90% of the country’s universities require their students to present proof of a certain level of English language proficiency before they can graduate.

Currently, the English certificates recognised by local universities include the General English Proficiency Test, or GEPT, of Taiwan’s Language Training and Testing Center, the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test, or TOEFL iBT, and Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC. The registration fee for an English proficiency test sponsored by these institutions ranges from TWD$500 to TWD$550 (US$16 to US$17)). While the registration fee for a GEPT test is comparatively lower, the certificate is not as well recognised by those issued by the international language testing institutions.
Full report on the Focus Taiwan site