English Preparatory Program

revised: Nov. 15, 2012, 3:02 p.m.

İstanbul Bilgi University is an English medium university. Before the beginning of each academic year, students are admitted to their departments for their undergraduate/graduate studies, following a two-stage BİLGİ English Language Placement Test (BİLET) which is designed to assess whether or not students will be able to follow their academic studies in their respective faculties. Students whose test results are below the desired language level are taught English in the Preparatory Department until their English level reaches the expected proficiency. İstanbul Bilgi University, English Language Preparatory Program teaches English to approximately 1,600 students each year before they proceed on to their first year studies.

The BİLGİ Preparatory Program offers the most up-to-date language learning facilities by means of a certified, friendly and professional team of experienced English language instructors who guide students in achieving the required language level and skills so they can go on to their future academic studies. The main aim of the program is to equip students with the necessary language skills so they can become successful users of English as a means of communication for expressing themselves fluently both in their academic studies and in social circumstances.

İstanbul Bilgi University, as a member of the Laureate International Universities Network, works with three world famous educational institutions;
•    Cambridge University Press is the printed and digital material provider of our course books
•    Cambridge ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) which offers the world's leading range of certificates for learners and teachers of English and is taken by over 3 million people in 130 countries, is used for assessment and benchmarking
•    Bell Educational Trust is the provider of in-house teacher training.

The program teaches English using a skills-based integrated approach. In other words, students study grammar and vocabulary that is built-into the language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing by means of the course books and digital resources. The İstanbul Bilgi University, English Language Preparatory Program uses the most recent technology during lessons via smart boards and CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) centers.

When the regular course hours finish, students can access a departmental library where they can borrow books in order to increase their fluency in reading. In their free time, they can watch movies and music videos and do specially designed activities for each in the CALL centers as well as several grammar and skills activities, puzzles and games by means of these audio-visual interactive language learning facilities. They have free access to all the internet sites that are necessary for their studies from the CALL centers. Students can also benefit from the BİLGİ Writing Center (BWC), where they can improve their writing with the help of tutors, in their free time. İstanbul Bilgi University also has a Student Activities Center, where students can join conversation clubs to improve their speaking skills and/or participate in the poetry, cinema and student magazine clubs. By offering all these services, the University aims to keep the students’ motivation high for learning the language by taking into consideration their needs and suggestions, and hopes to engage them in an active and dynamic language learning environment.

İstanbul Bilgi University’s Preparatory Program has been designed in such a way that all the successful students, regardless of their admission level at the beginning of the academic year, can complete in the program by June. The successful completion of the program depends on the students’ regular attendance, timely submission of homework and making appropriate use of out-of-class resources as suggested. For these reasons, it is vitally important for the students to attend lessons and to have a spotless record of out-of class studies.