About the Department

The English Language Centre provides high quality English language teaching expertise for students at all levels; pre-university entry, undergraduate and postgraduate.  The Centre also plays a central role in enhancing the experience of both home and international students

Having such tailor-made programmes is an important part of the English Language Centre's development plans over the next few years and with increasing numbers of international students coming to Durham, these courses have a significant role in the University's Internationalisation agenda

Year Round English Language Programme

The Centre offers a year round pre-university entry level English for Academic and General Study programme at different levels

Summer Pre-sessional English Language Support

For students with offers from Durham University departments there are the one, two and three month pre-sessional programmes over the summer.  Alongside the general pre-sessional programmes, we have separate Pre-MBA and Foundation programmes.  The pre-sessional programme is one of the few in the UK to be validated by the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP)

In-sessional English Language Support

The Centre also runs a very successful year round in-sessional academic English and study skills support programme and co-ordinates the assessment of non-native English speaking students at the beginning of the academic year

Postgraduate Study

The Centre has two MA programmes in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Applied Language Studies for TESOL

Undergraduate Modules

At undergraduate level we have three open modules; English Language Teaching, English Past and Present and English in its Social Context designed specifically for exchange students

Specialist Teacher Development Programmes

The Centre also runs teacher development programmes of any duration from two weeks to six months for groups of students from overseas universities