Dean Andretta's Letter on New Language Proficiency Policies

Sent via email: 

August 24, 2007

Dear Students:

Beginning this fall, there will be a few changes in the SFS language proficiency requirement.  These changes emerged as a result of discussions between the School of Foreign Service and the FLL faculty and were approved by the SFS Curriculum Committee.  First, there will no longer be a ranking system.  The transcription of this SFS requirement will simply state that the SFS Language Proficiency requirement has been fulfilled.  Second, there will now be four ways that a student can fulfill the language proficiency requirement. These options are listed below.

1. A student can demonstrate that he/she is a native-speaker. The mechanisms for establishing this will not change. Native-speaker will no longer be noted on the transcript, rather the transcript will reflect the fact that the student has fulfilled the language proficiency.

2. A student can take the proficiency exam. The format for these exams will remain the same, however, there will be no ranking . A student may only request this examination when he/she has taken one course beyond Advanced II or Third Level II in the language, or received permission from the language department for an exception.

3. A student can take the proficiency exam on-site at the end of one of the Georgetown-Approved, summer intensive language programs that offer the SFS Proficiency exam.

4. Students who successfully complete the equivalent of one semester of a Georgetown-Approved, direct matriculation study abroad program will automatically pass the proficiency requirement. The reasoning behind this new option is that the proficiency exam is designed to ensure that all SFS students have command of a language other than English at the university or professional level.  If a student successfully completes the equivalent of one semester of university-level academic work using that language, then this will be deemed sufficient proof  that the proficiency requirement has been met.  A list of acceptable programs is available online on the BSFS website under language proficiency requirement.  Let me make clear what I mean by the phrases “successfully complete” and “direct matriculation.” Successfully complete means that a student has taken a full-time course load and passed each course as defined by the OIP’s Academic Policy. Direct matriculation means that a student was directly enrolled in courses offered by a partner university on a Georgetown-Approved program.  These courses were conducted in a language other than English and were the same courses offered to degree candidates at that university. Some sites where students take university courses designed for international students will still be considered sufficient as long as the courses were conducted in a language other than English, and the curriculum remained comparable to that of degree candidates at the university.  

The language proficiency requirement, and the Map of the Modern World requirement, are signature pieces of the BSFS curriculum. These are curricular competencies that the School deems to be essential parts of your education as a global citizen. Changes in the mechanisms for establishing language proficiency are in no way intended to diminish the rigor of this requirement. 

We are proud to report that in the March/April 2007 issue of Foreign Policy, our undergraduate program was ranked fourth in the country in a survey of over 1,000 faculty members in the U.S. and Canada.  Our graduate programs received a number one ranking.  This was the first year that the survey was extended to undergraduate programs.  We expect to edge up to number one alongside our graduate partners as they get to know us better.  We have much to be proud of.  Hoya Saxa !

Elizabeth H. Andretta

Associate Dean and Director of the Undergraduate Program