This summer Sussex has welcomed 316 international students on the 8-week online Pre-sessional English course run by the Sussex Centre for Language Studies (SCLS), part of the School of Media, Arts and Humanities. These students are joining live and asynchronous classes in July and August from their homes around the world – in China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Brazil and Turkey.

Louisa Kenyon, SCLS Administrator said “All students hold an offer for Sussex for a degree, starting in September, and are typically slightly below the entry requirements for English, although some students take the course as a way of learning more about the University before starting. Whereas in most years the majority of students are progressing onto postgraduate courses, this year almost two thirds of all students are progressing onto an undergraduate course. 60% of the students will progress into the Business School, around 10% to Engineering and Informatics, around 10% to Media, Arts and Humanities, and lower numbers to other schools. We have seen a 5% increase on student numbers from last summer’s 8-week online Pre-sessional English course.

“Each student is placed in a group of maximum 18 students, taught throughout the course by the same tutor, to help guide them through the course and build up a sense of community. Teaching sessions (group and individual tutorials) take place within a similar time zone as the other students in each group, and there are also plenty of recorded lectures, sessions and materials for students to follow in their own time”.

Course content includes guidance so students can learn to engage in critical readings of secondary sources, understand and take notes from academic lectures and use the notes to answer questions related to the lecture, engage in spoken communication in an academic setting and take part in seminar discussions, write well-structured essays and develop an argument, and accurately observe academic conventions of citing and referencing.

Louisa continued “However it is not all work and no play. 126 students joined the first student social, an online quiz about Brighton in week 1 of the course. Since then, there has been a weekly social event, with the aim of creating a sense of community amongst Pre-sessional students based at home before they travel to the UK.”

Suzuna, from Japan enthused “I find it stimulating to discuss with people from different cultures, with different perspectives from mine. I really like being able to share ideas”.

Students are also encouraged to take up English language support (workshops, tutorials) when their degree starts.

Find out more about the Pre-sessional English courses on offer throughout the year at Sussex.