All students that are accepted into an undergraduate degree level program are required to undertake the English Language Skills Assessment (ELSA) test. Students that are identified through the test (who score 1 or 2 overall) as requiring additional English support must take the semester based course EL001 - English for Academic Purposes.

Students are informed about the ELSA requirement in their offer letter. It is important to encourage students to sit the ELSA test as early as possible. Students that have not passed the ELSA test, or not successfully completed EL001 will not be allowed to register for 200 or 300 level courses. Note that this is a Senate determined regulation in the USP Calendar which is enforced by SAS and cannot be waived by academic or regional campus staff.

EL001 is weighted as a 100 level course, which means that students undertaking the course can only register for three other 100 level courses. Students cannot take EL001 with 200 or 300 level courses. Note that students who have either successfully completed 200 or 300 level units prior to 2004, passed the IELTS test with an overall score of 6.5, completed a bachelor’s degree where the language of instruction was English or passed LL114 prior to 2010 are exempted from the ELSA requirement. Any student requesting a waiver of the requirement should see their Campus Director or staff at  the Student Services Centre at Laucala Campus to assess their eligibility.

Further information on the format and requirements of the ELSA test can be found by visiting the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching website www.usp.ac.fj/celt