Language courses abroad: ESL Schools Quality labels

EAQUALS offers the only widely accepted European quality standard for language teaching provision. EAQUALS is an association of providers of language services, founded in 1991, with over 100 members in over 20 different countries. EAQUALS grants its quality label to institutions that meet its high inspection standards. The EAQUALS Code of Practice and Charters provide clear specific quality guarantees, and enable those who need to recommend or take decisions on language learning provision to choose reliable partners. Our center for adults of Montreux is a full member of EAQUALS.

Every year more than 100 000 people come to France to learn French. Some 300 language centres (public, private or associative) offer their services in this respect. To address such situation, France has decided to establish, through the participation of three ministries - Higher Education and Research, Foreign and European Affairs, and Culture and Communication -  a certification system for the French foreign language centres established on French territory. For this purpose, a label entitled “French foreign Language quality” has been created. This process aims at the official identification, recognition and promotion of the schools where the language programs and related services present the required quality guarantees. The Centre international d'études pédagogiques (CIEP), a national public institution administratively related to the ministry for National Education, is in charge of implementing this certification system. For more detailed information, please visit the www.ciep.fr/qualitefle/index.php page.

The 19 language school and university members of SOUFFLE have all signed up to a Quality Charter and undergo regular inspections to guarantee the best quality assurance for French language learning whether aimed at beginners, improvers, teachers, young people or mature students. Our centers for adults of Montreux and Lyon are full members of SOUFFLE.

The purpose of the Private Swiss Schools Register is to certify high standards of educational services and to demonstrate the integrity and credibility of the private schools listed in the register as well as to protect Switzerland’s reputation as a centre for high quality educational activity.

The SFPS comprises 250 schools, including some of the most significant and oldest in the country. Swiss private schools are particularly experienced in the efficient teaching of the national languages (German, French and Italian) as well as other foreign languages and in learning to respect a variety of opinions and cultures.

Sister association of WYSETC, WYSE brings together those active in the organisation or promotion of work abroad programmes. It sets high quality standards that its members must respect and works with governments to promote work abroad programmes.

The WYSE Travel Confederation was founded in 2006 with the merger of the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations (FIYTO) and the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC). WYSE is a professional organisation for companies involved with youth travel. It is an open, global, apolitical, and non-denominational organisation with more than 550 members in over 70 countries, mainly language organisations, travel agencies, travel companies, and organisers of training and language travel courses and more

The ALTO association includes 180 organisations in 40 countries on all 5 continents. This organisation brings together associations that organise language studies abroad and work according to a common ALTO quality charter.

The Vaud Association of Private Schools (AVDEP) is a grouping of more than 50 member schools located in the Swiss State of Vaud. The primary goals of the AVDEP are to promote and improve the quality of education, to encourage innovation, and to maintain a certain Swiss tradition within a modern context.

CSN is the national authority that handles Swedish financial aid for students; i.e. loans and grants for studies. It also handles the recruitment grant, a grant awarded if certain criteria are met.

« Bildungsurlaub » (or paid study leave), which entitles an employee to a paid leave, was voted by the German government in 1976. Thus, the German Federal Government has undertaken to give every worker some paid days off each year to allow them to receive either long-term or personalised vocational training. But as vocational training falls within the legislative competence of the Länder, the rules as well as their applications vary according to each federal state. In some federal states, ESL is recognised as an institution for the study paid leave it gives to its employees.

At IH Berlin PROLOG, all work processes are consistently focussed on improving our services for the customer. We carefully take our customers' wishes into consideration and offer them the language course that best fits their individual needs and general market requirements. As a quality service provider, we constantly measure customer satisfaction by means of course-relevant questionnaires.

Our teaching staff, selected according to verifiable criteria, regularly participates in internal and external training sessions. We continually assess the number of training sessions and their effectiveness and evaluate them during performance reviews. Our instructors participate in comprehensive observation sessions to constantly ensure the highest quality teaching standards possible.

In this way, we can verifiably ensure and improve the quality of our services. Customer expectations and market requirements are constantly changing, which is why we are continually improving and expanding our service portfolio and have our offers checked by external auditors.

IH Berlin PROLOG has been certified as an educational institution in accordance with the German education quality management standard AZWV (Recognition and Authorization Ordinance for Continuing Education). As a centre of excellence, we are able to offer people with learning vouchers language courses designed to fulfil requirements specified by the AZWV. Our AZWV-certified language courses are occupational programmes, which gives students the necessary knowledge for the workplace. We offer such courses in the following languages:

• Business Arabic (Elementary level)
• Business Chinese (Elementary level)
• Business German (Elementary and advanced levels)
• Business English (Elementary and advanced levels)
• Business French (Elementary level)
• Business Italian (Elementary level)
• Business Spanish (Elementary and advanced levels)
• Business Turkish (Elementary level)

The provider number 922/3220/07 (Centre of excellence) applies to all the above-mentioned language courses.

FaDaF (Association of German as a foreign language) is an association representing students, teachers, and institutions in the field of German as a foreign language. The association has set itself the aims of developing the teaching of German and promoting intercultural contact. FaDaF is particularly involved in the field of intercultural understanding. It also seeks to increase the number of foreign students attending German colleges and universities, to represent the concerns of anyone involved in the field of German as a foreign language, to develop further training programmes for teachers and researchers of German as a foreign language.

The ICC is an international association of organisations involved in adult language education. At the time of writing, the ICC has 28 member organisations in 14 European countries. Through the ICC these organisations co-operate in the fields of professional development, training of exam invigilators and examiners and the development of curricula for language teaching.

The ICC - International Certificate Conference e.V. is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) with participatory status at the Council of Europe. ICC sets standards for a transnational network of language learners. The ICC - International Language Network provides foreign languages teaching and learning with exchange of ideas and know how.

ADUQUA is a European Network Project, funded by the European Commission and Grundtvig programme.

The aim of the project is to catalogue the different integration course concepts and programmes offered in the partner countries in order to develop a set of quality criteria which should in turn form the basis of a Framework of Quality Insurance in Migration Training.

Alongside ESL PROLOG - Berlin, there are 14 partners from 13 different European countries participating in the project, which runs from November 2011 to May 2014. More information on ADUQUA: www.aduqua.eu