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Aims

Master’s programmes taught in English attract numerous interested students with a wide range of academic English skills. These applicants also come from a variety of global academic backgrounds, some with academic cultures similar to JYU in academic practices but others quite different. Combining academic English with academic study skills can make adjusting to study life at JYU challenging. When inviting students to come to JYU for master’s studies, programmes want to communicate to applicants that both sets of skills are at appropriate levels for completing their work within a given time frame, usually only two years.

The current admissions process often looks at language skills separately from academic skills by requiring candidates to participate in validated general English tests, some of which also have a general academic language focus testing option. However, several of the accepted tests for admissions do not assess academic language, so it is difficult to confirm to an applicant who does not participate in an academic language version of a test that the results suggest academic language is appropriate for studies. Additionally, for those tests that do focus on academic language, only general academic English is assessed and not field-specific academic language.

Beyond validated language tests, other options for showing language skills are also accepted. For example, applicants can submit information from previous universities showing an earlier degree was completed through English. It can be difficult to determine, however, whether English language skills were required to be at the same levels for those degrees as the levels required at JYU.

Knowing that current means for assessing language and academic readiness are limited, Movi has implemented an Academic Readiness Screening (ACRES) process for applicants that combines academic language with academic readiness skills.

In addition to the challenges involved with deciding that a candidate has appropriate skills in academic English, there is an additional challenge in deciding whether a candidate has appropriate skills, in general, for academic practices in the JYU academic environment. Programmes are aware of what they will provide throughout the study years for students to learn, but they are also aware of what academic skills they want students to already have when entering the programme, such as skills in information management and self-directed learning.

 This combination of determining the appropriate academic language, as well as the necessary academic skills, can make determining who should enter a master’s degree programme taught in English complicated. However, when welcoming a student to the university following the application process, the welcoming study programme is indicating to the applicant that academic language and study skills are sufficient for completion of work within the given 2-year time frame.

During the pilot process, Movi and participating new programmes would determine what aspects of the process run smoothly and what aspects need adjustments. Following the pilot, if the process is determined to be sustainable, programmes could even solely use ACRES without the need for separate language skills testing.

For programmes interested in implementing ACRES as part of the application process, a pilot of the process is first conducted following an academic year timeline (see the picture):