Recommended levels of English proficiency
The Department of Languages and Literatures offers a wide range of courses in English, all of which are also taught in English. We use the Common European Framework for language proficiency (CEF) to give you an idea of the minimum and the recommended levels of English proficiency you should have in order to follow our courses.
The European language levels (CEFR)
You can read more about the basic six-tier proficiency levels here: European language levels (CEFR)
From that site you can download a pdf document that describes the different levels. It is important that you know beforehand what level of proficiency is required from you, so please register in accordance with your proficiency level to avoid any problems. We offer two levels: an “absolute minimum proficiency level”, which you need to have reached to be able to follow the course. Expect, however, to work hard over the term in order to pass the course if you only have the minimum level. The second level is the “recommended” proficiency level, which you should have reached to follow the course without having to focus too much on improving your language skills.
How to read our System
We have subdivided the comprehensive CEF proficiency levels into an Upper and Lower “half". With the exception of A1, it takes more than a course, in the case of B levels a number of courses and the equivalent time, to master any of the six levels. With C levels even more is required. When we say, for instance, that you must have "B1 Lower", you should have been studying at the B1 level for quite some time and should not just have started a B1 course after completing an A2 course (there is a considerable difference between A and B levels in terms of required knowledge of the language). If that was the case, you would not be able to follow the course. When we require “B2 Upper”, it means that you should fulfil all the requirements in all four domains (as specified in the CEF pdf) and that you are working on the the requirements for B2. Bear in mind that C2 Upper is the equivalent of native proficiency.