BEAP: Bishop’s English language and Acculturation Program
BEAP is a program designed to prepare overseas students whose mother tongue is not English, and who have never studied in an English language institution, to gain the linguistic and learning skills necessary to function at the University level in English. It is also designed to provide two other critical elements for success in North American post secondary institutions: an acculturation component which will help acclimatize the student to North American life, culture, society, values and history, and an academic learning and academic preparation component, which will be tailor-made to the individual student in order to prepare him or her for the specific degree program later followed at Bishop’s University.
The program will last 26 weeks, divided into two semesters. In the first part, students whose English skills are poor (below a minimum of 480 on TOEFL or its equivalent) will take part in an intensive English Second Language program which will provide virtually total immersion. Formal classes, limited to about 20 students, will take up 15 hours per week, and will be supplemented by workshops for an additional 5 to 6 hours per week. Students should normally live in residence, side by side with Anglophone university students. In addition to formal learning, students will also be exposed to a diverse range of extra-curricular activities: field trips, visits to sites of interest in Quebec and/or Ontario, games, cultural and scientific events, films, and so on.
As soon as English competency reaches an appropriate level, the students will also begin to receive acculturation components in their education, in which BU faculty from social sciences, business and the humanities will provide material on Canadian and North American history, on society in the west, on constitutional, legal and ethical components of citizenship, on values of Western society.
During the second semester of BEAP, the student will have reached at least an intermediate stage of English competency. English Second Language instruction will continue, as will acculturation elements in the program. These will also be supplemented during the second semester with a number of courses chosen specifically to prepare students for their chosen degree program. Business students, for example, might take one or two of the Business core courses needed for entry into the final credits of the BBA; for Science students, components of the standard U0 Science year which have not been completed might be indicated.
Successful completion of BEAP may be one of the conditions granting entry as a full time student into the degree programs of BU.
Cost for academic year 09-10 (8 months)* :
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Tuition only
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$13,443.90
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Student services
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$938.40
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Health insurance
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$434.00
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Total
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$14,816.30
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*Note: Fees may be subject to change
Room and board in BU residences is NOT included in the above fee. Residence and a meal plan currently costs between $6560 and $7120 depending on housing and meal options chosen.
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