If your organisation is looking to develop its staff or services, we can work with you to create a bespoke course that meets your needs.

We have many years' experience of providing training for a range of organisations from around the world, representing many different educational and institutional contexts.

By working with us, you can benefit from our expertise in designing and delivering tailor-made staff training programmes aimed at:

• school and university teachers of English
• academics who want to use English to deliver their courses and research
• university administrators who would like to improve their support services.

Depending on your organisational requirements, we can design a course that lasts from one week to three months. Courses require a minimum of 10 participants and are delivered at the University of Reading. During their stay, participants live with a local host family or in University accommodation.

teachers of English

We can work with you to develop courses for groups of English language teachers working in schools or universities. By taking one of our professional development courses, participants will:

• broaden their perspective
• upgrade their professional knowledge and skills in teaching English as a second/foreign language
• enhance their understanding of the English language, and British society and culture.

Each course includes:

• language teaching methodologies
• a cultural programme
• a placement with or visits to local schools.

Teachers from China

We have particular expertise in meeting the training needs of teachers from China. This is based on our extensive experience of working with groups from China, including teachers sponsored by:

• the China Scholarship Council (CSC)
• the Chinese Ministry of Education
• the Wenzhou Education Bureau, Xinjiang Bingtuan and other local education bureaus
• private education groups.

academics in Higher education

If you represent an institute of higher education, we can work with you to provide courses for groups of academic staff who are required to deliver their subjects through the medium of English. Our courses cover both:

• effective methodology in teaching in higher education
• the language of instruction in English.

Our courses are also aimed at improving the ability to use English to:

• write research papers
• deliver presentations
• attend conferences.

University Administrators

Our courses for university administrators aim to develop an understanding of administration in UK higher education, with a focus on student administration and support. These courses cover a range of topics, including student services.

Chinese university administrators course

Sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Education, this course focuses on how to enhance the delivery of student services in UK universities.

On this course, participants:

• gain an awareness of the University's student service setup
• look at best-practice examples of student service systems
• develop your university's service agreements.

Participants meet University of Reading service providers, such as careers and counselling. In addition, participants visit other universities to gain a wider perspective of UK higher education and student service provision.

How to commission a course

If you represent an organisation or institution, and would like us to design a course to meet the training needs of a group your staff, please contact us at islishortcourses@reading.ac.uk in order to discuss your requirements further.