Language tests
Under bilateral agreements, especially for general and faculty agreements, some universities require mobility students to present a language test certifying their level. Indeed, when your host university is in a country where the national language is not your mother tongue, a language test is very often a prerequisite for admission. There exists different types of commercial tests, and the one you should take will vary depending on your host university. It is therefore your responsibility to find out beforehand whether a test is required and, if so, which one.
First of all, it is important to take into account that these commercial tests are only offered by a few accredited institutes and that demand is high during the period preceding the application deadlines for exchanges. Therefore, in order to secure a place, it is necessary to anticipate and start the application process early.
You will find the different accredited institutes in Switzerland, the available exam dates as well as the deadlines for application on the Language Centre website.
In order to prepare as well as possible for your language test, the UNIL Language Centre offers preparation courses for the various exams aimed at making it easier for you to pass them. Whether it is for English, German, Spanish or other languages, you have the possibility, if you wish, to follow courses at the level you wish to acquire.
For more information on these preparation courses, please visit the Language Centre website.
Reimbursement of fees for language tests for university exchanges
A number of our international partners, principally those that teach in English, require our students to provide a commercial language test such as IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge.
As a result, in these situations, we have no other option than to require our students to take a test of this kind when submitting their application. These types of tests are particularly expensive, at a cost of around CHF 300.00.
As part of its commitment to supporting the possibility of university exchanges for its students, the UNIL Rectorate has decided to help students cover the costs of commercial language tests required in relation to applying for an exchange.
Accordingly, students applying to a partner university that requires evidence of a commercial language test can be partially or totally reimbursed for the costs of the test concerned, by completing the online form (see on the right) before the deadline.
SASME can only reimburse costs incurred by the student; no test fees will be paid directly by SASME to the organisation offering the language test.
Conditions and deadlines for a refund for students applying during the academic year 2023-2024 for an academic exchange in 2024-2025
- Reimbursement is limited to a maximum of CHF 300 per test.
- The student must have applied to the partner university requiring the test and obtained a test score that fully meets the requirements of the partner university for which the student has applied.
- The student must provide proof that the partner university only accepts commercial tests (copy of the exchange agreement form if it mentions it, signature of the faculty's mobility advisor for faculty/SEMP agreements, information issued directly by the partner university, etc.).
- Reimbursement is only due if the partner university does not accept a language certificate or the ISEP test from the Language Center instead of the test in question or any other document worth equivalence (secondary studies or bachelor's in English, maturity bilingual, etc.).
- Refunds are made both to students who are accepted and to those who are not accepted for an exchange at the partner university requiring the test.
- Students who subsequently withdraw their application for the destination concerned will be required to return the amount paid by UNIL.
- The form must be completed and sent with its appendices following submission of your application for an exchange by June 30, 2024 at the latest.
- Only one test can be reimbursed per student during their studies at UNIL.
- The test in question must have been taken in anticipation of the student's application for a university exchange at UNIL. Any test taken before July 1, 2023 cannot be taken into account. (For example, to apply for an exchange on December 1, 2023 or February 20, 2024, the test must have been taken after July 1, 2023).
- Refunds will only be issued after all exchange applicants have been selected, i.e. from March 2024 at the earliest.
