William Brown, 46, Dean, Boston, USA

“Most universities here accept TOEFL scores as it gives us a clear understanding of all four basic English skills. Sometimes though a student might have excellent university grades, if he does poorly on the TOEFL…we advise them to take a language course and then reapply. There’s no point in a student being excellent in academics and not being able to communicate effectively.”

Katie Williams, 33, Admissions Office, UK

“The scores on the TOEFL – iBT are taken into careful consideration before a student’s scholarship decision is made. At our university, we do not accept students with a low TOEFL score, as we know this slows down the productivity of a lesson.”