IELTS | Office of Undergraduate Studies

“Effective communication” is one of the graduate attributes of PolyU undergraduate degree students. To achieve this, we strive to provide curricular and co-curricular programmes to students for enhancement of their language proficiency. To encourage students to improve their language proficiency through the preparation for an English test, and provide an internationally recognised assessment for them in pursuing further studies or entering the workforce, we are pleased to inform you that PolyU Management has decided to sponsor graduating students of undergraduate degree programmes to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) starting from the 2023/24 academic year.

What is International English Language Testing System (IELTS)?

IELTS – the International English Language Testing System – is the world’s most popular English language test. It is developed by some of the world’s leading experts in language assessment and evaluates all of your English skills — reading, writing, listening and speaking. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English. And it is accepted by more than 10,000 organisations in over 140 countries. For more information, please refer to IELTS website: https://www.ielts.org/

The test contains four parts:

Listening Tasks (30 minutes)
Reading Tasks (60 minutes)
Writing Tasks (60 minutes)
Speaking Tasks (11-14 minutes)

Sponsorship Scheme to graduating students of undergraduate degree programmes to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) 2023/24

If you are a final year undergraduate degree student, you are invited to participate in the IELTS test sessions under the sponsorship scheme. The IELTS test can let you know more about your performance on your English language after these few years of study in PolyU.

Information and arrangements for the test sessions in Semester one 2023/24 is provided below.

Participation

Students’ participation in this Sponsorship Scheme is voluntary, and the results obtained will not affect their graduation.

What will you get after completion of IELTS?

A Test Report Form will be issued to all test takers with a score from "band 1" ("non-user") to "band 9" ("expert user") for each test component – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The individual scores are then averaged and rounded to produce an Overall Band Score to show your English language proficiency.

Application Procedures

Students can register through the online registration system provided by the Official IELTS Test Centre (IDP) (see below). You will receive an automated email informing the successful registration within 3 days. OUS will vet applicants’ eligibility and students will receive an email asking for completion of consent form and arrangements for online credit card payment of the test fee (HK$1,495). Allocation of places for the testing sessions will be on a first-come-first-served basis. For details on registration procedures, please click here.

Please read carefully the eligibility, reimbursement and arrangements provided below:

Test Schedule Test Sessions and Registration Test Result and Reimbursement FAQs

Test Dates:	13 April 2024 (Saturday) 25 May 2024 (Saturday) 8 June 2024 (Saturday) 22 June 2024 (Saturday)
Registration:	# Registration has been started for the above sessions
Test Venue:	PolyU campus (exact venues to be confirmed)
Test Type and Format:	Test Type:	Paper Based IELTS
	Test Module:	Academic only
Test Fee:	HK$1,495 (to pay via PolyU online credit card payment system)
Reimbursement:	Subject to the eligibility (Final Year Students) and Overall Band Score

* Candidate must reserve one whole day for the test

# Registration will be made on a first-come-first-served basis and closed 12 days before the test day (requests for cancellation or change of test date are normally NOT allowed to be made within 7 days before the test except for any legitimate reasons such as illness with the provision of valid medical proof)

Registration and Payment

Students can register through the online registration system provided by the Official IELTS Test Centre (IDP). You will receive an automated email informing the successful registration within 3 days. Allocation of places for the testing sessions will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
To complete the registration process, OUS will send an email to students in providing the payment arrangement and consent form. Students must make payment of HK$1,495 first through the PolyU online credit card payment system and complete the consent form.
Students are required to send the receipt of successful payment together with your completed consent form to ous.event@polyu.edu.hk via your university email address. Please state the FULL English and Chinese (if applicable) name and student ID card number in the email.
Upon the receipt of documents mentioned in (3), candidates will receive confirmation email providing the test permit, test venue and other details around 5-7 days before the test.

Test sessions will be provided on a year-round basis. Schedule for test sessions and registration in the second semester of 2023/24 is provided in the below table.

* Candidate must reserve one whole day for the test

- AM session: Listening, Reading, Writing Tasks
- PM session: Speaking Tasks

For details on registration procedures, please click here.

Important:

Remember to select ‘Pay offline’ at the end. DO NOT click “Pay Now”. The test fee should be paid to the University afterwards (OUS will send email to students with payment link and consent form after vetting applicants’ eligibility) and so you do not have to pay to IDP through this system. Your data will be erased completely if you don’t do that.

Test Date	Registration Deadline	Registration link and QR code
13 April 2024 (Sat)	1 April 2024 (Mon)	Registration ended
25 May 2024 (Sat)	13 May 2024 (Mon)	Click here
8 June 2024 (Sat)	27 May 2024 (Mon)	Click here
22 June 2024 (Sat)	10 June 2024 (Mon)	Click here

Notification of Test Result

The Official IELTS Test Centre (IDP) will post one copy of Test Report Form (TRF) to the student’s address two weeks after the test by ordinary mail or it can be collected in person at Test Centre with prior notice

Reimbursement of Test Fee

Only students taking test sessions under this Scheme on PolyU’s premises are eligible for reimbursement.
Students taking IELTS under this Scheme are reimbursed depending on their test results as follows:

Overall Band Score	Level of sponsorship
7.0 or above	100%
6.5	50%
6.0 or below	No reimbursement

The reimbursement is conditional upon students’ agreement to show their results of IELTS under the sponsorship of PolyU on their transcript of studies if they have attained an overall score of 6.5 or above
All participating students under the Scheme are expected to give consent to the University to use their results in an anonymous manner in a study to be conducted by the University.

For the frequently asked questions, please refer to the links below :

General FAQs

Frequently asked questions about IELTS | IDP IELTS HK | IDP Hongkong

Support Services for Exam Preparation

IELTS Preparation Resources | IELTS Sample Tests | IDP IELTS HK | IDP Hongkong

Adverse Weather Arrangement

Arrangement during Typhoon & Black Rainstorm | IDP IELTS HK | IDP Hongkong

Precautionary Measures on Test Day

Special Notice | IDP IELTS HK | IDP Hongkong

Cancellation and change of Test Date

Candidates who are eligible for the University scheme may transfer the scheduled date to the next available test date on campus free of charge, but the test can only be rescheduled once. The application MUST be submitted at least 7 days before the test date.
If they are absent due to medical reason, they need to notify the IDP Test Centre within five working days after the test date.

Inquiry

For enquiries, please contact at 3400 3404 or 3400 2992 and email to ous.event@polyu.edu.hk.