Contract creates dispute
By STEVE HOOKS
Of Vw Emerald
An "international dispute" of
sorts temporarily barred 45 for
eign students from classes at
the American English Institute
last term
The AEI is a self-supporting,
non-profit institution with
University ties It offers an in
tensive non-credit English pro
gram for foreign students
Many students enter the AEI
to prepare for the Test Of Eng
lish as a Foreign Language,
which is required for admission
to the University The AEI, how
ever, teaches English skills for
college life and beyond, says
director Iris Moye
The students affected by the
problem were sponsored by
agencies of their governments
The agencies paid the Japan
based International Language
Services to arrange the
students' study programs in the
United States, she says The
ILS, in turn, contracted with the
AEI
"However, the ILS has a bad
record for paying us," Moye
says, adding that the ILS was
more than a term behind in
payments She says the AEI was
"dealing with an agency that
had established a bad reputa
tion "
Moye says the AEI, on the
advice of the University Office of
Business Affairs, changed the
contract with ILS so the institute
would "get paid in a timely fa
shion ” One aspect of the con
tract allowed the AEI to bar ILS
students from classes if
payments were late
Students whose governments
contracted with ILS were in
formed during the summer of
the new agreement between ILS
and the AEI, she says >
ILS was late again in paying
the AEI last fall, Moye says The
45 foreign students were
prevented from attending
classes for nearly two days at
the beginning of fall term, "even
though it grieved me enor
mously to put the students in the
middle," she adds
During those two days, Moye
met with the students to explain
the situation She recommend
ed the students contact their
sponsoring agencies and ask
the agencies to put pressure on
the ILS
The time out of class did not
hurt the students' progress in
the program, she says
Repeated efforts were made
to contact ILS offices in Japan
and Long Beach, Calif , Moye
says The situation was com
plicated when each office
claimed the other had respon
sibility over the matter
"You wouldn't really keep
them (the students) out of class,
would you?" she quotes one
Long Beach ILS official as ask
ing her
"They (ILS) simply were not
prepared to accept the earlier
contract agreement,' Moye
says
The payments arrived and the
students were admitted to
classes, but she says the AEI is
advising foreign governments to
not arrange students’ programs
through the ILS
The Venezuelan government
arranged its students’ programs
through ILS, Moye says She
recommended the government
sponsored scholarship agency
in Venezuela stop using ILS to
set up student programs, but
says communicating with the
Venezuelan agency was dif
ficult
Two Venezuelan students
barred from classes say they
were out of classes for most of
the first week, not just two days
Moye stresses that all students
were admitted to classes after
less than two days and that
those students might have mis
understood the situation Some
Venezuelan students didn't
know their government had
contracted with ILS until they
were barred from classes, she
says
Sergio Antillano, a University
graduate student from Ven
ezuela, says he was also tem
porarily barred from AEI classes
when he attended in 1979 due to
late payment He says ILS was
not involved at that time
"I disagree morally with the
attitude of kicking students
out," he says
Moye was not director at the
time, and says she was unaware
of the incident until asked about
it.
AEI test assists students
By STEVE HOOKS
Of thm EmtnM
Some foreign students arriv
ing at US universities have only
minimum English skills and their
governments limit the time they
can spend in basic English
classes, says American English
Institute Director Iris Moye
The AEI otters intensive non
credit English classes to "non
native" speakers of English and
has ties with the University lin
guistics department Its chief
customers are foreign students
who must pass the Test Of Eng
lish as a Foreign Language for
admission to the Universily
But Moye points out. the in
stitute isn't "in business to just
get students into the Universi
ty "
The AEI has a TOEFL prepar
ation class as part of its pro
gram. says Moye. but merely
passing the test does not mean
the student will have enough
English skills to survive all
university courses The AEI
program is designed to teach
students skills above and
beyond the minimum University
requirements, she says
Students whose governments
allow limited time in a basic
English program are usually at
tending U S universities on
scholarships. Moye says, ad
ding she would like to see more
advanced screening of students
for English skills
"If they (the governments) are
going to impose a time limit, it's
very important to screen
students before they arrive ”
Sergio Antillano, a University
graduate student from Ven
ezuela, studied at the AEI
"It takes you too long to learn
the English you need to pass the
TOEFL," he says
Antillano adds that while
some instructors at the AEI were
good, he thinks 'as a whole, the
institute fails in preparing
students in English skills."
A current AEI student from
Venezuela, who asked not to be
identified, says the government
allows only three terms for its
students on scholarships to
complete the program and pass
the TOEFL The AEI starts
TOEFL preparation only at the
advanced stages of the
program, the student adds
"I can understand why
students feel that way," Moye
says of the students' frustra
tions, but adds that unless
students are screened for Eng
lish skills in advance, "We can t
guarantee students being
prepared for college within the
time period."
"There are universities all
over the country filling the ranks
with foreign students without
minimum English skills," she
says "In some cases, this
borders on the criminal," she
adds, referring to the lax admis
sions requirements of some
universities
In contrast, the University
may raise its admissions re
quirements for foreign students
Peter Briggs, assistant direc
tor at the Office of International
Services, says the Admissions
Office proposed raising the
minimum TOEFL score required
for admission
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