What students say
We asked former BIA students to tell us why they chose to do a Presessional English course and what benefits they gained from this decision.
Sue
Name: Jia Sue
Nationality: Chinese
English course: 31-week Presessional
University course: LLM Commercial Law
"I developed my skills and learned how to write and reference a good essay, how to summarise and paraphrase ideas and how to collect information for an essay. It was all extremely useful for my current studies. The people on my course who had not done this Presessional found it more difficult so I would recommend doing a Presessional course instead of re-taking IELTS."
Seyed
Name: Seyed Sadr
Nationality: Iranian
English course: 20-week Presessional
University course: PhD in Civil Engineering
"The presssesional course taught me skills relevant to my future study. The BIA unit is very friendly, and all members of staff are patient, kind, and helpful."
Violaine
Name: Violaine Bucchiotty
Nationality: French
English course: 20-week Presessional
University course: BSc Archeology
"I’d recommend taking a BIA programme rather than re-taking an IELTS test because the Presessional is more interesting. We had some fascinating discussions in class and there is no better way to improve your English fluency than exchanging points of view with people from different cultures."
Xuan-Yu Liu
Name: Xuan-Yu Liu
Nationality: Chinese
English course: 10-week Foundation English Presessional
University course: Foundation Programme
"I lacked confidence when I arrived, but thanks to the Presessional course I know how to take part in seminars, take notes in lectures and write academic essays. The teachers have helped me a lot and I'm really glad that I studied in the UK on this course before beginning my programme."