Page 14 - ELG1806 June Issue 458

Ranking .

Master

plan

Welcome to the EL Gazette
masters course listings -
the most comprehensive
guide you will find to
masters courses in Tesol,
ELT, applied linguistics and
related areas of study

ost of these are MA courses,
although some are MSc – Master
of Science – taught in a social
Msciences department or in Scottish
universities. Some are MEd courses – a Master
of Education, taught in a school of education.
Confusingly, a few programmes are styled
‘MA Education – Tesol’ as well.
How did we compile this guide? First we
searched the course information webpages
of all the universities that appeared in our
previous (January 2018 issue) listing. Then
we emailed all the institutions for which we
already had an email address, or for which we
found a contact email during our searches.
We phoned a few institutions from which an MA Applied Linguistics with no teaching Edimburgh. We’ve put prices into bands, with
we got no reply. A remarkable number of practice. Even institutions that nobody has a ‘good value’ star awarded for those we felt
replies to our enquiries were automatic ones heard of are charging up to £8,000 for an MA were particularly reasonably priced, either for
assuring us we’d be answered shortly, followed Tesol with that all-important teaching practice. EU students, international students or both
by – nothing, by press day. My heart sank every We’ve indicated these courses with a pencil categories.
time I saw a generic university ‘contact us’ symbol. Most tuition fee increases this time around
address, effectively a black hole from which Some MA courses are available in distance have been slight and below inflation. Most
emails never return. learning (DL) versions as well as ‘campus’ – UK and EU fee increases were between £100
We’ve gone for the most logical names in our actual face-to-face teaching. Some are ‘DL and £200, although one institution put up
listing – the University of Sheffield is down as Most tuition fee international fees by £500.
‘Sheffield University’ under ‘S’ not ‘University Some of the up-and-coming post-1992
of Sheffield’ under ‘U’. Look under ‘U’ for increases this time around universities (they converted from polytechnics
University College Cork (also known as UCC) in that year) as well as some of the established
and so on. We’ve put the Institute of Education have been slight and ‘plate glass’ campus universities founded in
under ‘I’, even though it’s now officially UCL below inflation. the 1960s now have enviable international
Institute of Education. reputations in Tesol or applied linguistics that
A few websites took you through very Most UK and EU fee they rightly feel deserves a slightly higher price
complicated ‘fees and financing’ finders that increases were between tag. Meanwhile, two prestigious institutions
didn’t actually work, so we’ve put ‘contact in the elite Russell Group – Bristol and KCL –
institution’, as we have for some start dates £100 and £200 appear to have dropped their EU fees slightly, if
and entry requirements that were missing we’ve done our maths right. We’ve given them
from websites. There were no new institutions only’ – only taught online. The fee structure both a ‘good value’ star for this. The price gap
on the list that we’re aware of. Apologies if for these will be different. There’s usually no between the top end of the market and the rest
we’ve missed your course – please contact us extra for being an international student for of the pack seems to be narrowing.
and we’ll make a note in the online version these distance learning courses. Republic of Ireland universities that offer
of this listing. A notice on the University There’s no cap on postgraduate course fees Tesol-related masters are good value, but
of Cambridge website says that the MPhil for EU and UK students. But there’s a limit to beware of currency fluctuations as Brexit
Theoretical and Applied Linguistics has now what the market can bear in this competitive unravels.
closed. Warwick seems to have ended its MPhil field. Tuition fees for undergraduate courses for We’ve given pound sterling equivalents for
ELT and Applied Linguistics too. Its website UK and EU students are capped at £9,000 and their course fees – a pound was €0.87 at the
says they’re now only offering PhDs and MA we found that only four institutions charged time of writing.
courses. £9,000 or over for an MA in our field. EU
An MA Tesol with teaching practice can students can apply for bursaries at a number n Matt Salusbury is a freelance journalist and pre-
cost you more at the same institution than of universities including, South Wales and sessional EAP tutor with Brunel University
14 June 2018

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