Procedure: Case for English Language Equivalency

Purpose

To set out the procedure for making and approving a case for English Language Equivalency under the Policy: English Language Admission Requirements and Post-Admission Support.

Principles

1. The ANU is strongly committed to admissions transparency, and despite Coursework Awards Rule 2020 para. 15(5) makes no waivers of its English Language Admission standards. All applicants must meet the English Language requirements of the University as outlined in the Policy: English Language Admission Requirements and Post-Admission Support or, in rare cases, by the relevant ANU College establishing a Case for English Language Equivalency on behalf of the applicant.
2. Applicants cannot commence or establish a Case for English Language Equivalency on their own.
3. Equivalency cases will normally only be considered for applicants basing their academic admission requirements on work experience in a Group A country; Group A countries are specified in the Policy: English Language Admission Requirements and Post-Admission Support.

Process

4. A Case for English Language Equivalency may be made via a memo:

1. for coursework students, by the Associate Dean (Education) of the relevant College to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and the Dean, Academic Quality; or
2. for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students, by the Associate Dean with responsibility for HDR matters of the relevant College to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and the Dean (HDR).

5. If the Associate Dean has a conflict of interest, the memo should be from the College Dean or, if also conflicted, the relevant Associate Dean of another College.
6. Each memo must relate to only one applicant; multiple requests cannot be combined into a single memo.
7. In the memo, the Associate Dean must confirm:

1. whether the applicant meets the program’s academic admission requirements, or whether a forced offer request will also be made (in which case the forced offer request should be submitted in the same email as the Case for English Language Equivalency); and
2. that the request does not involve a conflict of interest.

8. The memo must provide at least two of the following types of evidence of English Language Equivalency, and attach documentary evidence to support the case:

1. test results which meet requirements except that they are up to six months older than the two year expiry date; and/or
2. evidence of at least two years’ work experience in a Group A country requiring English language proficiency; and/or
3. both:

• an interview in English with the student conducted by a member of staff other than the coursework thesis supervisor or HDR supervisor; and
• and a sample of sole-authored written work in English attested to by an independent source that has not been edited by a third party.

9. The College Dean or delegate who can commit funding is to confirm that if remedial English courses are required that they will be arranged by the area at no cost to the student, and that the College will cover relevant costs associated with English language tuition.
10. The memo with its attachments is to be emailed as a single file to, for all coursework programs, the Associate Registrar (Admissions) in DSAAS at Admissions.Manager@anu.edu.au or, for all HDR programs, the Manager, Higher Degree Research Operations at gro@anu.edu.au. If there are multiple memos, each is to be emailed separately. The email subject line should be in the format: Case for English Language Equivalency: [application number] [applicant’s name].
11. The Associate Registrar (Admissions) or Manager, Higher Degree Research Operations or Delegate will forward the memo to the relevant Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean who will consider the request, and within ten business days either:

1. approve the request; or
2. ask for further information to help inform their decision; or
3. not approve the request, and email this outcome by replying to the requesting email from admissions or the Graduate Research Office.

12. For a Case to be approved, two approvals are needed.
13. In the absence of either the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or the Dean, the Pro-Vice Chancellor may provide one of the approvals.
14. Admissions (for coursework programs) or Graduate Research Office (for HDR programs) will within five business days convey the decision to the Associate Dean by email.
15. The Associate Dean is responsible for supplying any further information that has been requested within ten business days to the Associate Registrar (Admissions) or Manager, Higher Degree Research Operations or Delegate. Clauses 11–14 will be repeated until the request is either approved or not approved.
16. If two approvals are received, Admissions (for coursework programs) or Graduate Research Office (for HDR programs) will make the offer or force the offer in the UAC system.
17. The decision is final and as a Case for English Language Equivalency may not be made by an applicant it may not be appealed.

Monitoring of students

18. For each student admitted under a Case for English Language Equivalency, the Associate Dean making the Case is to appoint:

1. for coursework students, either the Convenor of the Student’s program, or the Deputy Director (Education) or equivalent of the relevant Research School (or equivalent); or
2. for Higher Degree by Research Students, either the thesis supervisor or the Deputy Director (HDR) or equivalent of the relevant Research School (or equivalent)

to confirm to the Associate Dean in the third month of enrolment/candidature that the student has the proficiency in English needed to participate in their study.

19. Where proficiency in English needed to participate in the student’s study is not demonstrated, remedial English courses are to be arranged by the area at no cost to the student. The College is required to cover relevant costs associated with English language tuition.
20. When proficiency in English needed to participate in the student’s study has been demonstrated, the Associate Dean will inform the Secretary to the Academic Quality Assurance Committee in writing. The College is no longer required to source or fund further English language tuition once the Secretary has been informed.

Reporting

21. An annual report is to be prepared for AQAC, HDRC, and Academic Board categorising Cases for English Language Equivalency by School and College, by cohort (undergraduate, postgraduate coursework, higher degree by research), by student demographic, and by type of evidence used. The report should consider the marks and grades, or work on the thesis, of each student, and a report from the staff member who is monitoring their progress.