Policy Revised for LOTE Certification

UC faculty have revised the policy for validating Language Other Than English (LOTE) courses so that community college counselors may certify proficiency in LOTE for students seeking IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) certification. The new policy also allows UC campuses to use "validation" when they evaluate completion of the UC Foreign Language Graduation Requirement (FLGR). The clarification will provide greater consistency in IGETC certification, benefiting students without burdening evaluators.

In validation, successfully completing a single course at a higher level demonstrates proficiency in a subject area that is typically achieved by completion of a series of courses. Clearing this course requirement is most common in the LOTE subject areas, because students who successfully complete a second- or third-level language course are presumed to have the knowledge and skills learned through the successful completion of the preceding course(s).

Since the inception of IGETC in 1992, students who plan to transfer to UC with IGETC certification have been required to satisfy UC's LOTE proficiency requirement. (Note: language proficiency is not a UC or CSU subject area requirement for IGETC certification.) The IGETC policy states that competence can be demonstrated by completing two years of high school coursework in appropriate LOTE subject areas (with a grade of "C" or better) or achieving passing scores on AP exams or College Board Subject Tests. Before the policy revision, an advanced transferable college-level language course would have been certified for the 3B area of IGETC, but would not have cleared the proficiency requirement (6A). Now, students completing such courses will both satisfy the 3B area and validate the proficiency level requirement. This validation rule will also allow campuses to satisfy or partially satisfy a student's FLGR.

For more information about clearing the LOTE requirement, including as a non-native student, go online. For questions about transfer evaluation and IGETC, contact Dawn Sheibani at dawn.sheibani@ucop.edu or (510) 987-9569.