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The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced
today (April 1) that students of UGC-funded
undergraduate degree programmes who expect
to graduate at the end of the 2008/09 academic
year can register for the Common English
Proficiency Assessment Scheme (CEPAS) from
today until 7pm on October 17, 2008.
"To facilitate students' participation
in CEPAS, the UGC has been improving the
registration and testing arrangements over
the years. As the online registration system
has been operating smoothly since its commencement
in 2006/07, we will continue to offer this
service for this round of CEPAS. Students
can register online by visiting the CEPAS
website (www.ugccepa.com),
where the dates and availability of each
testing session can be found," Mr Michael
Stone, the Secretary-General, UGC said.
"With the assistance of the institutions,
we will arrange a series of testing sessions
from July 2008 to May 2009 under the Scheme
for all students of UGC-funded undergraduate
degree programmes who will be in their final
year in 2008/09 academic year.
"We began to offer summer testing
sessions three years ago, and will continue
to offer testing sessions from July to October
this year. We believe that both job-seekers
and employers who need to know CEPAS results
at an earlier date will benefit from this
option. The first testing session will start
in early July."
"This year, the registration period
is from April 1 to October 17, 2008 (7 pm).
Students who want to register for the testing
sessions from July to October 2008 should
do so by 7 pm on April 25, 2008. Students
may check these dates by visiting the CEPAS
website. Students are encouraged to register
as early as possible as the seats are on
a first-come, first-served basis, and some
testing sessions may become full during
the registration period," Mr Stone
added.
As in the past few years, participating
students are eligible for reimbursement
of the test fee (once only), if they agree
to have a statement printed on their transcript
indicating that they have participated in
the Scheme. The statement only indicates
participation; it does not contain the actual
score.
"Despite its voluntary nature, more
than 10 000 final-year students, which was
a record high, participated in the Scheme
last year. This year, we again encourage
each and every eligible student to take
part in the Scheme. In addition, we shall
continue to strengthen our efforts in promoting
the CEPAS targeting at employers, students,
as well as the wider community," Mr
Stone said.
For more detailed information, students
can visit the CEPAS website, call the International
English Language Testing System (IELTS)
hotline at 2620 0321 or contact the Registrar's
Offices of the eight UGC-funded institutions.
CEPAS is a voluntary assessment scheme
intended to encourage students to be more
aware of the importance of proficiency in
English and to provide a common framework
for assessing and documenting graduating
students' English proficiency. Through the
assessment, the UGC aims to benchmark the
English proficiency of local tertiary students
against a reliable, internationally validated
instrument which will serve as useful reference
for students when they enter the workforce
after they graduate or when they pursue
further studies.
The UGC announced the adoption of IELTS
as the testing instrument for CEPAS in July
2002. IELTS is an internationally validated
English testing instrument. In recent years,
over 900 000 candidates took the IELTS test
annually around the world. It covers all
the four skills in English language, namely
listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Its results are reported on a band scale
from 0 to 9.
An overall band of 6.5 or above with no
subtest score below band 6 obtained in the
same sitting in the Academic Module of IELTS
within the 2-year validity period of the
test are accepted as equivalent to 'Level
2' result in the Use of English paper of
the Government's Common Recruitment Examination.
UGC Secretariat
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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