Medical English Tests Ubelt

Test evaluates English language skills of overseas medical practitioners and students UBELT (University of Bath English Language Testing) has been running its professionspecific, language proficiency tests since 2003 when language specialists at the English Language Centre of the University of Bath were first approached by employers and recruitment companies to assess the professional English language skills of potential employees from European countries. Currently UBELT offers proficiency tests for 4 types of medical professional: dentists, medical doctors, medical, nurses and pharmacists. Over 1,000 UBELT Tests are taken annually, at present, by those seeking work with many of the United Kingdom’s largest private and public sector healthcare employers. Candidates from sixteen EEA countries, including Poland, Spain, Romania and Italy, have sat UBELT tests. To date, UBELT Tests have been held once monthly at the University of Bath, or held throughout Europe, including the UK, as part of recruitment events organised by and according to the timetables of agents and employers. Following approaches made to UBELT by European medical universities, the University of Bath is pleased to announce UBELT Tests will be held in Poland and Romania in June and September 2009. UBELT is working with other European medical universities and WiddEnglish (Montevideo Uruguay) to increase the number of test locations in 2009/2010.

“In an ever increasing marketplace, overseas medical practitioners, medical universities and their students are looking for an independent international test to certify their English language levels. We have a lot of expertise in testing English language skills, and specifically with the healthcare professions, making the UBELT Tests the logical choice”, said Kevin Renfrew, a UBELT spokesperson.

“Certification of language competency is not just necessary for those seeking employment abroad,” said Mr. Renfrew. “Talking to colleagues and employers overseas, it is clear that with the growing number of international visitors and workers in every country, medical professionals, especially front-line professionals, such as pharmacists, nurses, medical doctors and emergency staff often need to use English as the lingua franca. So they need an international measure of their English language skills. UBELT helps ensure that their communications skills match their medical qualifications.” UBELT Tests measure the communicative language level of candidates in a professional context. They are often used to identify those candidates whose level of English is good enough for them work in an English-speaking environment. The tests prioritise communicative linguistic competence. While grammatical accuracy and spelling are important factors, UBELT does not test these discretely or in isolation; instead UBELT tests focus on the candidate’s ability to use English effectively and appropriately for the given context. And since the real professional work situation will be a linguistically “live” environment, the test is based on professionally authentic information, topics, and tasks. Details of the above test events, as well as general information, can be found on the UBELT web site at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/ubelt