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English oral proficiency testing offered at Northwestern University

TGS English Proficiency Requirement

The Graduate School requires international PhD and MFA students whose primary language is not English to fulfill The Graduate School’s English proficiency requirement in order to become eligible to earn funding as teaching assistants. Students may fulfill this requirement in one of 4 ways:

Proficiency Testing
Students who have not already fulfilled The Graduate School’s English proficiency requirement are required to take the Versant test during the first test period after they arrive on campus (typically September of the first year).  Those who do not pass will be required to participate in Versant testing approximately every six months until they fulfill the English proficiency requirement.  Students who fulfill the English proficiency requirement are not required to participate in further testing.

Other proficiency test opportunities like the SPEAK test and Linguistics 480 are available to students upon request from their department or program.  All requests must be approved by The Graduate School (in consultation with English Language Programs).

If you have additional questions about testing policies and procedures, please contact Dr. Erin Leddon (e-mcmahon "at" northwestern dot edu).