ELC FAQs

At the English Language Centre, we accept students who are 16 years old and over. When learning English at Regent’s University London, your classmates are likely to be secondary and university students or professionals whose main aim is to improve English skills, so you are surrounded by like-minded people going through a language learning journey just like yourself.  

There are several English language courses to choose from and it might be tricky to decide which one to apply for. Choosing an English course depends on your study objective, whether you are aiming to improve your general, business or academic English skills, plan to take the IELTS exam, or study a degree programme at Regent’s and need to take the Pre-Sessional Course. Your language level and work/study experience might also contribute to your course selection. We suggest going through the description of our courses at www.regents.ac.uk/elc as well as getting in touch with our Admissions team here or by calling us on +44 (0) 20 7487 7477 to help you decide which course is right for you. 

If you are interested in learning English and becoming a student at Regent’s, we ask you to submit an online application. You can do that by clicking the Apply button on your course page and selecting a preferred start date. Once you send us your application, we might ask you to submit some documents. When all the documents have been submitted, you should receive an unconditional offer to learn English at Regent’s via email. If you are happy with the offer, we will require a non-refundable deposit payment (£150) to secure your place on the course. 

Upon receipt of your deposit payment we will issue an acceptance letter or a Short-Term Study Visa letter if you need to apply for a Short-Term Study Visa.

The balance of your programme fees is due 2 weeks before the course start date. 

We advise to wait for a minimum of 2 months before applying for a new visa. This is to protect you from a potential visa refusal. However, be aware that a risk is still attached when you apply for multiple Short-Term Study Visas.

When joining an English course at Regent’s, you will have the chance to have your English level tested on the first day, during the Induction. We will also help you familiarise yourself with the university premises as well as our various team members. Apart from that, on your first day at Regent’s, you also take a placement test consisting of written and oral tasks that help us determine your level of English. After completing the test, you are placed in a group that is most suitable for your current level of English.

If you wish to check your level prior to enrolment, please get in touch with us by sending your enquiry here, emailing us at [email protected] or calling us on +44 (0) 20 7487 7477.

We do not offer trial lessons. However, you can always book a visit to our campus and talk to us regarding the course and enrolment. Book your visit here: https://www.regents.ac.uk/study/visit-us

All our academics are certified English language teachers, having years of experience teaching English as a foreign language and holding the appropriate teaching qualifications.   

If you are a student who needs a visa, then we suggest applying for your English course at least a month in advance. The more time you allow yourself to arrange the paperwork the better: you don’t want to feel rushed and under pressure waiting for your visa to be granted. We also have a high season which is normally the summer and early autumn. Hence, we recommend enrolling in advance prior to the busy period. 

We usually don’t recommend applying with such a short notice, however, if it is unavoidable, our Admissions team will do all they can do to give priority to your application. Application processing for a student holding an EU passport is between 2-4 working days. 

Our minimum course duration is two weeks.

The maximum number of students in each class is 15. However, on average there are between 8 to 12 students in each class. 

The number of teaching hours depends on your course. If you have enrolled on a General English Course, you will have 15 hours of English lessons a week. Your General English classes start at 9:15 and finish at 12:30, including a 15-minute break. If you signed up for an Intensive English Course, you will have 22.5 hours of English language lessons a week. Your Intensive English course takes place in the morning 9:30-12:30 and afternoon 13:30- 15:00.  

You can find out the exact timetable of our IELTS and Pre-Sessional Courses by looking in the brochure. You can download the up-to-date brochure from here.  

There are plenty of free activities and lessons we highly recommend engaging in. 

You can: 

1. Attend a Conversation Club session which is held once a week, normally on Tuesdays, from 15:15-16:15. During this time, your teacher and fellow students practise and improve their English speaking skills by focusing on building confidence and boosting fluency during debates, presentations and other discussions which the teacher prepared. 
2. Book a one-to-one session with your English teacher to focus on the aspect of English that you’re finding challenging. This session is ideal for students struggling with British pronunciation or writing skills.  
3. Practise sports like football, basketball, do yoga or go running. Regent's Sport is the home of student sport and physical activity opportunities, whether you are looking to participate in one of our competitive club teams or are looking to get involved in our social sports and fitness sessions in our Be Active programme. We have something for you! Find out more here.
4. Join a free trip to explore London and its famous sights. We offer many different trips and activities throughout the year for you to get involved in. Our events and activities programme is packed with free and also paid trips for you to join and enjoy. Our free trips are a great way to explore and discover London's most iconic spots as well as hidden gems, while ticking off those places you have always wanted to see! Click here to learn more about Activities and Trips

You need to make sure you have your original passport or a national ID card (only if you are European) on your first day.  

Course materials (which includes one coursebook) will be provided. If you move levels during your course, you will be asked to purchase the second coursebook at your own expense. Apart from that, students only need to bring a pen and a notebook, or a laptop, for note taking. 

Students receive a course attendance certificate if they attended at least 80% of all their classes, but there will be no level stated on it. At the end of the course each student receives a certificate of attendance. Students also have an option to take an exam at the end of the course. The exam is called Password and students get a separate certificate for that exam which gives their score for reading, writing, listening and speaking and is aligned to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

When you receive the offer, you will have 2 options to pay:

1. You can pay a non-refundable deposit of £150 now which will be deducted from the total amount (you will then need to pay the balance 2 weeks before the course start date)
2. You can pay the total amount

You can pay for your course on our website. Once you receive an offer letter for your chosen course, you will be able to access a link on your own account and make a payment. Should you have any issues with the payment link please do get in touch with [email protected] quoting your Student number.

We now only use Western Union Business Solutions for all international bank transfers as bank charges are avoided. Please use the following link to get a quote: https://student.globalpay.wu.com/geo-buyer/regents#!/. It’s really easy to use and after a few short questions it will generate our details for you to give to the bank. Please kindly email our Admissions team once you receive the payment confirmation. 

We offer discounts for group bookings. If you are a group of more than 4 people please get in touch with Emilia, our Business Development Officer, on +44 (0) 7834 317 997.

You can postpone or defer the start date of your English course provided you have given us sufficient notice. For more information regarding refunds and cancellations, please read our Terms and Conditions.

With regards to your English level, the minimum level for General English, Intensive English and Summer Residential is Elementary (A1) and we do not require any certificate for that. Although we do not provide group lessons at a beginner level, we can definitely schedule private classes at that level. We will test your English during a Skype call and then suggest the number of private lessons which will allow you to improve your English in order to continue your learning to A1 level in one of our General English courses. 

General English as well as Intensive English help you improve all four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. On top of that you’ll also learn new vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. The main difference between the two are the total tuition hours. When joining an Intensive English course, you will be having 22.5 hours of English lessons a week. The more hours you learn the better results you might expect, as you devote significantly more effort and energy into improving your English. The Intensive Course is ideal for people who are in London for a short time only, or for those who want to improve their English really fast. 

Please kindly note that Advanced - CEFR C1 is the highest level that we offer. We do not offer classes above Advanced level. Our best advice would be to offer you a skype interview with our Director of Studies to assess your level of English and advise on the optimum course option as well as course duration for you. 

Please kindly note that the test level interview with the Director of Studies is an informal chat to help assess your level of English. 

The available courses at Advanced level at our English Language Centre are: General English, Pre-sessional Course and IELTS.  

Moving levels depends on your current English level as well as your enthusiasm and dedication to learning English. It takes, on average, a minimum of 12 weeks to improve by a level (1 point).

IELTS Exam Preparation Course is especially designed for students who would like to take the IELTS exam and achieve an IELTS score of 6.5. During the course you learn the language together with strategies to achieve a higher band in your reading, listening, writing and speaking papers. Your teacher will also focus on vocabulary and grammar structures that are expected from you at this level. The IELTS exam fee is included in the course price, so towards the end of your IELTS course you will take the official IELTS exam.  

Our Pre-Sessional Course is ideal for students who have received a conditional offer or are starting a degree programme at a university (especially at Regent’s University London). The Pre-Sessional Course helps you with the transition from day-to-day to the real language and skills you need for university study. During the course you can expect to work on planning and structuring much longer pieces of text, utilising source material for your writing, focusing on strategies and skills for coherent academic study and giving academic presentations.  

Depending on the number of weeks you book, your timetable looks as follows:

Weeks 1-8

Monday to Friday (22.5 hours per week)

For courses longer than 8 weeks, hours are reduced slightly in the second part of the course, as students are expected to do more independent work in the library. 

Weeks 9-24

Monday to Friday (20 hours per week)

The 20 and 24-week courses both include an Intensive English Course. The structure is as follows: 

• 20 weeks: 4 weeks of intensive English, 16 weeks of Pre-Sessional Course 
• 24 weeks: 8 weeks of intensive English, 16 weeks of Pre-Sessional Course 

When students submit an application, we usually require an English certificate. If they don’t have a certificate, we offer a quick chat (on Skype) with our Director of Studies. This is an informal chat which lasts usually 15 minutes. Either the certificate or the chat will allow us to decide how many weeks you need to study to pass the exam.  

In addition, regular progress tests and mock exams take place throughout your course. Teachers give continuous feedback on students’ progress. There are also regular one-to-one tutorials which give students the opportunity to revise their learning goals, discuss their strengths and areas for improvement and the date of the exam.  
 

Click here to view the table of requirements for the Pre-Sessional Course.