LCI receives national accreditation

The new Language and Culture Institute at Radford University (LCI@RU) has received accreditation from the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), ensuring that the program meets common standards and best practices in English language education.

"This accreditation is important because it helps our program maintain high standards," said LCI@RU Associate Director Charlene Dandrow. "With accreditation, we know how to remain focused and try to reach new levels of quality."

The LCI@RU accepts international students who seek opportunities at American universities and offers an intensive English course that will provide them with the necessary language skills for academic success.

The CEA accreditation demonstrates that the LCI@RU is a program that promotes excellence in English language education, assures the quality of its curriculum, provides means of ongoing self-assessment and provides objective means for review of the quality of education.

"Our goal is to get our students to the point where they can succeed anywhere," Dandrow said. "But we hope to keep them right here at Radford."

During a LCI@RU session, students attend language classes Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. over a period of eight or 16 weeks. Intensive courses such as these have been shown to encourage the growth of international communities on campus.

The program provides full-time classroom instruction in all skill areas, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, and pronunciation, from beginning through advanced proficiency levels, supplemented by self-paced, interactive computer-assisted training.

LCI@RU is a partnership with the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute. Virginia Tech's program has been in place for 40 years. Students who attend the program at RU have the benefit of conditional admission offered by some programs at the university.

"We are all so pleased - although not at all surprised - that the LCI@RU received accreditation," said Kate Hawkins, dean of the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, under which the LCI is housed. "One of the reasons RU chose to partner with the LCI is because we knew the program was of exceptionally high quality. It's gratifying to see that high quality recognized and rewarded by a national accrediting agency like CEA."