UCL Centre for Languages & International Education - London

Janatgull T.

I am writing to express my profound disappointment regarding my experience with the Bowman Scholarship application process at UCL. As a refugee, I have applied for this scholarship twice, demonstrating consistent dedication and competence throughout both attempts. I successfully passed the entrance exams on both occasions and answered all interview questions thoroughly. Additionally, I possess significant experience in pharmacy, which I believed would enhance my candidacy.

Despite these qualifications, I was not selected for the scholarship either year. The feedback I received was disheartening and lacked clarity, leaving me feeling undervalued and frustrated. I had high hopes that UCL’s admissions team would recognize my potential and the unique challenges I face as a refugee. I sincerely hope that the admissions process can be improved to provide more constructive feedback and fairer consideration for future applicants in similar circumstances.

Chris D.

I have taken a couple courses (Japanese and Mandarin) there between 2017 and 2019.

The beginner level Japanese class was fantastic. I've probably had 40 to 50 language teachers in my life (various languages) but Miko Shimizu and her style would be my favourite. She provided extra audio material for each lesson for everyone to learn and repeat, which really helped everyone to have a good accent at a good speed of speech. The reason I'm writing this review is I've recently been thinking about how best to teach languages and can't think of a better example.

The Mandarin class I took was not quite as good as the Japanese classes and the highest level offered at the time was not particularly advanced, but it was not bad and had small class sizes.

Jonas M.

I am currently taking German Level 2 and have had a great experience. In comparison to other language courses I have taken elsewhere, the teacher at UCL is very innovative in her teaching approach and uses different techniques to make learning German very engaging and entertaining. I highly recommend this course!
In addition, I find that CLIE staff has been very supportive during the enrolment process.

Wanda B.

I have been taking Japanese classes, about to complete the beginner level and move onto the lower intermediate level staring in April.
The teacher has been absolutely amazing, providing excellent material to study from, and been very helpful throughout the course.
CLIE staff has also been very helpful with information and enrollment.

Daniel G.

Found the courses an awful way of trying to learn. Tutors just talked in the language without translating as they speak and going over things far too quickly.

I'm bilingual and using the course to refresh and fine tune, so it was ok. But my girlfriend had the same issue at level 1+!!

Not happy with their lack of willingness to refund the remainder of the course after I expressed my disappointment in the course.

You'd save and learn more by watching pepper pig in French with Subtitles!

Katayoun K.

I took the Italian online course this spring and I'm very happy with the teaching style of our teacher (Laura Mezzomo), the content of the course and the progress I made so far. I will defiantly continue in Autumn and highly recommend the Italian course.

John G.

The language teachers I've had are excellent, but they are done a huge disservice by the astounding incompetence of the administrative staff. I've taken evening language classes at UCL for the past 2 years and my experiences have included (but are not limited to) the following:

The administrative staff once double-booked our classroom for some external event, which caused a half hour of wasted time in argument with the other booked party. At the beginning of a new semester, they forgot to send the time and location of the classroom until the first day of the course (and only after I called them up asking about it). At the end of the most recent semester, they sent round an email asking people to complete a survey assessing the course quality and forgot to add the link to the survey, nor did they bother sending a follow-up email with the link included.

And now, with the Autumn semester about to begin, they expect the external participants to go through the rigmarole of getting ID cards to access materials that are only useful to enrolled UCL students, and to collect said ID cards from a building that is only open 10am to 4pm on weekdays. This is fine for UCL students, but extremely inconvenient for those of us with 9am-6pm jobs.

Go to Kings, go to a specialised language centre (like a Goethe Institute or a Confucius Institute, depending on the language), or teach yourself for free on the internet. Don't waste your time or money on UCL evening language courses.

EDIT: UCL contacted me after reading the original version of this review and requested that I not name individuals who work in the department. To be fair to them, they did not ask me to change the substance of the review to make it more positive, and since my complaints are against the department as a whole, I agreed to remove the name of the individual.

I have also made some other minor edits for clarity.

HarryFlavia C.

I experienced a poor level of teaching (and I have been a language teacher) and poor administration. I had hoped for a convivial environment where I could enjoy language learning and cultural exchange. This wasn't the case. The teacher was poorly motivated and used bad materials in a poorly structured lesson. I reported this but to no avail. I appreciate it is tough with evening lessons because everyone is tired but nonetheless the experience was very disappointing.