UNIcert - What's it all about?

The UNIcert® system of language education and certification is based on a policy document agreed by leading German universities. The system helps to develop modern language course programmes appropriate for, and specific to, university education, i.e. programmes which do justice to the special requirements of university learners, to their objectives, and to the working modes appropriate for learners with an academic background. It aims to standardise the grades awarded by universities for various levels of modern language competence, to promote a greater degree of comparability between university language course programmes and thus to introduce a certificate which is valid and acceptable also beyond the university context, as an indication of practical foreign language ability as required by academically trained personnel.

Why UNIcert®?

Developments in the European Union, the current mobility programmes, the increasing internationalisation of industry and science all strongly underline the need for university graduates of all disciplines to acquire practically useful language competences. When universities in the Federal Republic attempted in the past to create foreign language certification systems and training programmes, these programmes tended to reflect the idiosyncracies of the institution concerned and, as such, were generally either too language or too institution-specific. To solve this problem, the Association of Language Centres in Germany (AKS) initiated framework which, after a series of refinements, has finally culminated in the current comprehensive University-specific modern languages certification system UNIcert®, which is valid across different languages and institutions.

Detailed information can be found here.