The UOC will offer the University of Cambridge's English examinations to its students

The agreement between the two university organizations has been signed today, 3 March, by Josep A. Planell, President of the UOC; Robin Gravina, Cambridge English Language Assessment Key Account Manager for Spain and Portugal, on behalf of Saul Nassé, Cambridge English Language Assessment's Chief Executive; and Mary Jane Pratt, Director of the Girona Examination Centre (ES780), who will be responsible for administering and organizing the examinations.

The UOC's students will now be able to take the Cambridge English examinations at the university to obtain the Preliminary, First, Advanced and Proficiency certificates, corresponding to levels B1, B2, C1 and C2 in English. These are the University of Cambridge English certificates that are best known and most requested by universities and companies and which are now made available to the UOC's entire educational community. Students will also be able to enrol for the Cambridge English: First course during this year, and next year the UOC plans to offer a course to prepare for the Advanced examination.

Josep A. Planell, President of the UOC, said that "we view languages, and English in particular, as an indispensable skill for ensuring our students' career success". "We are very pleased to be able to help them obtain these internationally recognized certificates that will remove barriers to their professional and personal development", he added.

Joseph Hopkins, director of the UOC's Centre for Modern Languages explained that the agreement provides "a very attractive complement to our course offering, enabling the students who learn English with us to accredit their knowledge before the public and private sector".

For his part, Robin Gravina, Cambridge English Language Assessment's Head of Development in Spain and Portugal, said: "It gives us great pride to include the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya among the higher education centres that offer our examinations to their students. The fact that the Cambridge English certificates can be obtained at the University itself is further proof of the UOC's commitment to its students and to their academic and professional future".

Cambridge English is a founder member of ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) and issues certificates that prove a level of command of English equivalent to the levels established in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): from B1 to C2, which are the levels that are most often requested. Furthermore, its certificates are recognized by the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE). With this agreement, the UOC underscores its commitment to its students' professional and academic future, since the University of Cambridge's certificates are accepted as proof of command of English in more than 20,000 institutions, including universities, companies and official agencies around the world.

About Cambridge English Language Assessment

Every year, more than 5 million people in 135 countries take the examinations for the certificates issued by Cambridge English Language Assessment, a department within the University of Cambridge, and which are recognized by more than 20,000 government departments, universities and employers around the world.

An extensive piloting and validation programme ensures that the questions and tasks proposed in the examinations accurately determine the examination candidates' actual knowledge. Cambridge English Language Assessment's commitment to excellence is supported by a permanent team of about 300 people and more than 10,000 specialized examiners.

About the Centre for Modern Languages

With the Centre for Modern Languages, the UOC seeks to meet the needs of a society that is witnessing growth in university mobility, the global exchange of goods and services, and intercultural contacts. The  English, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Catalan courses are constantly being updated and expanded to improve students' communication skills in these languages.