Akilah’s Pre-Bridge Program Sets Aspiring Students Up for Success
Akilah’s Pre-Bridge Program prepares applicants to pass the English admissions exam.
Akilah’s unique six-week Pre-Bridge Program is designed to help prospective students develop their English skills to pass Akilah’s admissions exam and excel in their studies. Thanks to a grant from the Cresap Family Foundation, Akilah will scale up its Pre-Bridge Program and offer it to 100 students at no additional cost.
Akilah is unique among higher learning institutions in Rwanda for its emphasis on high levels of English fluency. Prospective students are required to pass a written and verbal English test to gain admittance. Once accepted students set foot on campus, all lessons, assignments, projects, and conversations are in English — it’s a big transition for students who came from a predominantly French or Kinyarwanda learning environment in high school.
A crash course in English
Last year, Akilah introduced the Pre-Bridge Program to help students who performed well on other admissions criteria gain the required level of English to pass their final admissions exam. These students were invited to Akilah’s campus for an intense English writing course designed to prepare them for the written exam and future success at Akilah.
Akilah’s Academic Director, Lisa Doherty, says the lessons can have a big impact.“We offer the Pre-Bridge Program to students who are right on the cusp of passing their English entry exam and who still deserve a chance to apply. We can identify a few things that can make a big difference in their written English level. We focus on structure and a few grammar points, which can be the difference between passing and failing the exam.”
95% pass rate
The Pre-Bridge Program proved to be highly successful: 95% of the 60 Pre-Bridge students passed their English exam after finishing the program — an exam that they had failed just two months earlier.
The syllabus and curriculum are designed in collaboration with Akilah’s English Department to ensure students gain the skills necessary for future academic success. This year, the course includes two hours of writing instruction every day, plus an additional hour for students to work on assignments in class. The students have access to Akilah’s computer lab, where they can complete coursework and research.
Personalized instruction
The Pre-Bridge Program is highly personalized, and the instructors are invested in each student. Akilah caps the number of students at 25 per class. The low student-to-teacher ratio allows teachers to meet with students one-on-one to provide feedback.
The program’s benefits extend beyond preparing students to pass Akilah’s English entrance exam. The students who participated in last year’s Pre-Bridge Program are excelling in their current studies at Akilah. They are scoring high grades and report feeling confident in class. In addition, the Pre-Bridge Program exposed them to Akilah’s participatory teaching style and life on campus, giving them a head start before their classmates joined them on campus in July.
This year, 100 students will have the opportunity to participate in the Pre-Bridge Program thanks to our generous sponsor, the Cresap Family Foundation.