Clearing a Path

As growth in the number of international applications to U.S. colleges and universities falls, institutions are widening their recruitment efforts to include more students in regions off the beaten path, including many lacking advanced English language proficiency. To help ease the language transition and help pave the way for academic success for students from this expanding universe of backgrounds, many institutions have turned to pathway programs.

Built around coursework designed to help international students improve their written and spoken English skills at the start of their higher education experience, such programs have had a presence in the United States for more than a decade. But as increasing numbers of U.S. colleges and universities have come to rely on international enrollment to meet revenue and internationalization goals, pathway programs have recently taken on a new importance.

Bridging a Gap

Jeffrey P. Smith, acting director of the International Scholar Transition Program at Ohio Northern University, says pathway programs offer students an opportunity to prove themselves despite their language limitations.

“The whole determination on whether they get a degree should not be based solely on a test score,” Smith says. “These are students who are close but not quite there, and they need help with bumping up their writing skills, their vocabulary, and their ability to listen and understand the language. Through our program they have the ability to prove to the university that they can make it and thrive here.”

Likewise, the University of Arizona’s Center for English as a Second Language