English proficiency thresholds for admission into Australian degrees have become increasingly disjointed since new language tests were approved, analysis suggests.
International education consultancy Studymove has found that entry requirements are particularly variable for teaching courses, which are deemed to require relatively high levels of spoken and written English.
In less linguistically demanding fields, such as business, science and the humanities, entry requirements fall into two bands – overall scores of 6.0 and 6.5 in the IELTS Academic test – at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
But the range extends to three bands for teacher training programmes. While most universities set an entry score of 7.5, some require 7.0 and some just 6.5.
Confusingly, some universities mandate IELTS 7.5 for their undergraduate teaching degrees but lower scores for postgraduate programmes in the same field.
Entry requirements in speaking skills – one of four components of the IELTS Academic test – vary even more, ranging from 6.0 to 8.0 for undergraduate teaching programmes.
The analysis found greater variation still in admission requirements involving another language test, , with 16 separate entry scores mandated for undergraduate business, science and humanities degrees.
Eleven universities required an overall score of 79, seven required just 60 and one required 90. Some universities required relatively demanding IELTS scores but less challenging TOEFL scores for the same courses.
The analysis has been presented after Australian authorities broadened the range of language tests accepted for visa application purposes. In August, the Department of Home Affairs three additional tests – Canada’s , the UK’s and the US’ – for evidence of applicants’ language skills.
This increased the tally of acceptable tests to nine, including TOEFL iBT, Pearson’s , Cambridge English’s and , a test developed in Australia to assess the language proficiency of overseas-trained health workers.
The department also accepts both the and tests of market leader IELTS. Universities can use any language test they like for their own admission purposes, but tend to adopt the tests approved for immigration.
Studymove director Keri Ramirez said that while universities were not obliged to use all nine tests, doing so gave them the opportunity to reach “a wider range of applicants”. His analysis demonstrated “how complex it is” for universities to convert scores from one test to another.
“If you don’t have the right score…it could be a risk,” he warned. “If you have a significant [number] of students not doing well academically, it will end up affecting institutional brand.”
Ramirez said the availability of?further options, notably the online (DET), raised the stakes. “It will be important for universities…to have extra consideration when they are doing the conversion, just to ensure that it really aligns to the kind of applicants they want to bring into their campuses.”
The DET’s emergence during the pandemic has upended a global industry in assessing students’ English abilities, projected to be (?11.2 billion) by the end of the decade as universities become ever more reliant on international students’ fees.
Although?Duolingo’s test has not been approved by Australian authorities, it is accepted by more than 6,000 institutions globally, including US Ivy League colleges and over 50 UK universities. Its advent has fuelled fears of a “race to the bottom” in English language testing, as other companies tweak their offerings to compete with the DET’s convenience and price.
The Studymove analysis found that entry to some of Australia’s most prestigious universities required high IELTS scores but lower equivalent TOEFL thresholds. Ramirez said universities needed to be mindful of their “value proposition” when they converted entry scores from one test to another.
He said some universities set lower entry thresholds on the assumption that they could compensate with “additional support” after students arrived. Universities must follow through with that intention, Ramirez warned, because experience showed that many international students did not “proactively” access student services.
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