Certifying Multilingual Excellence Worldwide

In our increasingly global society, intercultural communication has become essential. The Global Seal of Biliteracy provides a unique, universally recognized certification validating language proficiency across cultures and communities.

Higher Education programs play a pivotal role in preparing students for success in an increasingly interconnected and multilingual world. By connecting students across disciplines and offering language certification programs that are verifiable, comparable, and digitally-shareable, universities attract and empower students to develop the skills and credentials needed to thrive in diverse academic and professional contexts.

The Global Seal celebrates bilingualism by offering three distinct certification levels that celebrate different degrees of fluency:

 

Functional Fluency

This individual can navigate daily routines and predictable situations in their certified languages. They can describe services, follow procedures, and respond to frequently asked questions, though some grammar errors or mispronunciations may occur.

Working Fluency

At this level, the certified individual can handle both routine and unfamiliar situations across formal and informal contexts. They can adjust their language, make recommendations, explain policies in detail, and resolve problems with overall accuracy and understanding.

Professional Fluency

The highest certification validates advanced mastery. These individuals interact with precision on a wide range of complex topics. They excel at persuasion, negotiation, delivering presentations, and participating in the linguistic and cultural nuances of professional environments.

 

Credential Validity

The Global Seal of Biliteracy certification provides a consistent and secure way to document students' language proficiency, making it easier for employers, academic institutions, and other stakeholders to assess their qualifications. By embracing a digitally shareable microcredential, universities ensure the integrity and portability of their students' language certifications, facilitating seamless transition between academic and professional settings. This enhances the value of language programs and promotes trust and credibility in the broader education ecosystem.

 

Enhanced Opportunities

Verifiable and digitally-shareable language certifications open doors to a wide range of opportunities for students, both academically and professionally. Whether pursuing further studies abroad, applying for internships or jobs in multinational corporations, or engaging in cross-border research collaborations, students with certified language proficiency are better positioned to seize these opportunities and succeed on a global scale. Providing the opportunity to earn a Global Seal of Biliteracy certification demonstrates a commitment to equipping students with the skills and credentials needed to excel in today's competitive landscape.

 

Interdisciplinary Connections

Pairing language study and certification with other disciplines fosters the development of holistic skills that are essential for success in the modern workforce. By providing students from various disciplines an opportunity to document their language skills, universities create opportunities that ensure that students not only develop specialized knowledge in their fields but also cultivate strong communication and language skills, enhancing their overall competence and employability. Whether it's business, healthcare, engineering, or any other field, students benefit by having tangible evidence of their language proficiency, enhancing their credibility and readiness for the workforce. When coupled with language specific courses tailored to the specific contexts and communication requirements of their chosen profession, students are empowered to succeed.

 

The Process

A Simple 3-Step Pathway to Certification

Issuing a Global Seal of Biliteracy is straightforward through the program's quick and easy application, and award process - completely free of charge (cost of testing not included). Providing this international certification to your students is as simple as apply, submit, receive.

 

Apply

Apply Online: A college or university starts by completing the online application to provide your contact information and a few details about your program. This allows the Global Seal to understand your specific credentialing needs and how to best support you.

Submit

Submit Testing: To validate proficiency, you'll need to provide documentation proving skills in two languages for all students. This includes test scores from one of our approved language assessments taken within the last 12 months. All applications for the first certification in the U.S. must include English for either the first or second certification language.

Receive

Receive Certification: After your application and required test scores are reviewed and approved, you will receive an official Global Seal of Biliteracy certificate for each qualifying candidate! Each certificate documents a student’s dominant and tested language and fluency level and is sent directly to your program free of cost.

 

Enhance and Boost Program Enrollment

Pathways

Each year, thousands of high school students are certified via testing with a Global Seal of Biliteracy language credential. In collaboration with the Global Seal of Biliteracy, institutions of higher education are able to identify and attract students with language skills at the Intermediate-Mid/B1 level or higher who have reached one of our three levels of language certification. College and university language programs are invited to create and share with us pathways to advanced placement and opportunities to major/minor in language for our graduating high school recipients. Successful programs award competency-based credit to students who enroll in and successfully complete the next course in the sequence.

Scholarships

Colleges and universities seeking to attract students with verified language skills in two or more languages to build and expand their programs are encouraged to offer scholarships to potential enrollees to identify and incentivize continuing language study.

Advanced Placement

Many Higher Education programs are use Global Seal of Biliteracy certification as a proxy for advanced placement. To earn a Global Seal of Biliteracy, each candidate must take a nationally recognized test and qualify at the certificate level in all four skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Composite scores are not accepted. For certification of less common languages, a qualifying two skill test of the productive skills of speaking and writing may also be used. All qualifying tests accepted for Global Seal of Biliteracy certification were approved by our International Board of Advisors and meet our rigorous test selection process. As a result, a Global Seal of Biliteracy can serve as an accurate placement tool to build higher level course enrollment, as well as increase the number of majors and minors in language programs.  Because the Global Seal of Biliteracy has been issued in more than 50 countries, it makes appropriate course placement possible for all students, including international students who wish to study abroad.

Program Retention

Thousands of college and university students have been awarded the Global Seal of Biliteracy by their institution. Research shows that providing students with stackable micro-credentials builds learner motivation, program retention, and provides students with a digitally shareable and verifiable measure of their language skills. In a Job Outlook Survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 60% of employers want to see evidence of skills on recent graduates’ resumes (NACE, 2017). Data supports the value of adding a certification program to higher ed curriculum and shows increases in both matriculation and retention rates. Many universities test students at the end of lower level courses to provide a micro-credential that compliments other fields of study. This further incentivizes their Global Seal of Biliteracy recipients to extend their language learning sequence in order to earn a higher level certificate creating exciting gamification that leads to meaningful industry credentials.     

 

Global Seal Colleges and Universities

  • Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie

  • Alma College

  • Auburn University

  • Bates College

  • Benedictine College

  • Berry College

  • Birmingham-Southern College

  • Bob Jones University

  • Boise State University

  • Butler University

  • California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

  • California State University, Long Beach

  • California State University, Monterey Bay

  • California State University, San Bernardino

  • Carleton College

  • Clemson University

  • College of DuPage

  • Delaware State University

  • Denison University

  • Drew University

  • Emory & Henry College

  • George Fox University

  • Green River College

  • Greenfield Community College

  • Hartwick College

  • Holyoke Community College

  • Indiana University

  • Indiana University of PA

  • Indiana University South Bend

  • Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana

  • Kansas State University

  • Marquette University

  • Metropolitan State University Denver

  • Middle Tennessee State University

  • Middlebury Language Schools

  • Monmouth University

  • Montana State University

  • National Cheng Kung University

  • Northern Kentucky University

  • Northwestern University

  • Oregon State University

  • Pacific University

  • Pittsburg State University

  • Ramapo College of New Jersey

  • Randolph Macon College

  • Rhodes College

  • Saginaw Valley State University

  • Saint Mary's College

  • San Diego Mesa College

  • San Diego State University

  • San Francisco Pacific Academy

  • Southeast Missouri State University

  • Tulane University

  • University of Alabama at Birmingham

  • University of Delaware

  • University of Hawai'i- Mānoa

  • University of Iowa

  • University of Mary Washington

  • University of Missouri, St. Louis

  • University of Nebraska at Kearney

  • University of Nevada at Reno

  • University of Oregon

  • University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

  • University of Portland

  • University of Richmond

  • University of Southern California

  • University of Texas at Arlington

  • University of Texas at Austin

  • University of Toledo

  • University of Washington

  • Virginia Military Institute

  • Walters State Community College

  • Washington & Jefferson College

  • Washington State University

  • Western Kentucky University

  • Western Oregon University

  • Wheaton College

  • Wittenberg University

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • language proficiency, regardless of the approved test taken by the recipient. This certification is an industry-recognized proof of language proficiency for both academic and professional purposes, making it a valuable asset for students and graduates in an increasingly globalized world. The Global Seal's rigorous standards, test approval process, and partnerships with reputable testing organizations ensure its reliability and credibility.

  • The Global Seal of Biliteracy is a cost-effective program that certifies an individual's biliteracy based on language testing. Thanks to the support of our sponsors and donors, there are no direct costs for institutions or students to participate in the Global Seal program. However, the language tests themselves are administered by independent testing companies, and the expenses for these tests are paid directly to the respective companies by educational institutions, organizations, businesses, or individuals.

  • Integrating the Global Seal into your institution's language curriculum and assessment processes is straightforward. If your institution already uses one of our approved tests, you can easily submit existing test scores to the Global Seal for certification. If you are not currently testing, we recommend administering tests at the beginning and end of a term or academic year to track your students' progress towards proficiency. Some programs use an approved test as an end-of-sequence exam for courses with Intermediate-Mid targets as a way to document the language skills of students exiting the program and excite them about leveling-up while adding a major or minor. The test data can be valuable for assessing program effectiveness and demonstrating the value of your language programs to stakeholders.

  • The Global Seal offers certification in over 100 languages through its network of approved tests. This extensive language coverage enables higher education institutions to support and recognize the diverse language skills of their student body. Visit our Languages page for a comprehensive list of the languages we offer.

  • The technical requirements for administering the Global Seal tests are determined by the individual testing companies. Many tests are delivered online, providing flexibility for institutions and students. To ensure the integrity of the certification, all tests submitted to the Global Seal must be proctored by an impartial individual. 

  • The Global Seal is committed to supporting higher education institutions in monitoring student progress and evaluating program effectiveness. While we currently do not provide organization-specific metrics, we are actively working on developing reporting tools that will offer valuable insights into student performance and program outcomes. These reports will help institutions make data-driven decisions to enhance their language programs and demonstrate their value to key stakeholders.

 
 
 
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