Lingnan University in Hong Kong has scrapped its requirement for undergraduates to pass an English proficiency test before graduating, replacing it with internal language classes.

The move has sparked concerns among some observers that the change was intended to accommodate students who struggle to meet international standards.

Lau Chi-pang, special adviser to the president on publicity, confirmed on Thursday that the university no longer saw a need for an exit exam, noting that 99 per cent of undergraduates had passed the requirement since the test was introduced.

nouncement issued by the university earlier this week said its senate had approved a revision to the English language graduation requirement introduced in 2017.

“Under the revised policy, undergraduate students must meet this requirement by completing the required English Language Enhancement Curriculum rather than meeting external benchmarks such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Password Test, etc with immediate effect,” it said.

The change means undergraduates no longer have to take an external English test to demonstrate their proficiency. Lau noted that some students had previously been forced to defer graduation because they were unable to fulfil the English requirement.

He explained that the benchmark test was introduced in 2017 in response to criticism from the Quality Assurance Council, a semi-autonomous non-statutory body under the University Grants Committee, over students’ English proficiency.

“Since the introduction of the mandatory tests, 99 per cent of our students have passed the requirements and only a handful of students failed,” he said.

A social media user who posted the announcement suggested that the move may be related to non-local students from mainland China being unable to meet the tests’ English standards.

Another user, Jeanz0385, expressed frustration that university students were struggling to meet Lingnan’s basic IELTS requirement.

“An IELTS score of 6.5 is honestly way too high for them. Requiring mainland Chinese students to get an IELTS 6.5 is literally asking for the impossible … they call themselves university students but have had four full years to prepare and still failed to hit basic requirements. The university lowering the bar this much … how useless are these graduates going to be?”However, Lau dismissed such speculation, stating that non-local students admitted to Lingnan University achieved excellent results in the , China’s national college entrance examination, and that their English proficiency was sometimes higher than that of local students.

The university previously said the exit test requirement was intended to “ensure graduates attain an appropriate level of competency in English before graduation”.

Under the previous framework, an overall band score of 6.5 in IELTS (Academic) was set as the default English language graduation requirement.

Students majoring in Chinese were required to score at least 6.0, while students majoring in contemporary English studies, translation, cross-cultural studies, and corporate communication had to attain at least 7.0.

Alternatively, students could also take an exam known as the Password Test to fulfil the requirement. Other public universities in Hong Kong require students to take English language courses and pass the associated course requirements.