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International Graduate Students

The University of Connecticut regularly admits a diverse contingent of international graduate students. The Department of Mathematics has traditionally supported international graduate students, and encourages their application. There is an International Center on campus that serves to facilitate social and cultural contact among students from diverse backgrounds, and a special advisor serves the needs of students from foreign countries.

All international students who have not graduated from an English-speaking university must take the TOEFL and achieve a score of at least 550, or must take the IELTS and achieve a score of at least 6.5, in order to be considered for admission into the University. At the beginning of their graduate studies, many foreign students are asked to take an English course at the American English Language Institute of the University of Connecticut.

A useful measure of English proficiency is a TOEFL iBT speaking score of 25 (with an overall score of at least 100), or an IELTS score of 8.0. Our university TA program requires extra speaking tests from international teaching assistants. One of the important tests is the PhonePass test (the passing score is 65). Click the following links for more information: instructions, sample, and sample test request.

Each summer, the University has a mandatory one-week orientation program organized by ITAP for newly arrived international students who will be supported as Teaching Assistants. International students receiving support from the mathematics department must receive approval from the University in order to be able to do classroom teaching. Information about the testing procedure is available at the Graduate School web site. Those who fail to meet the University requirements will be required to take language courses during the next academic year and are assigned responsibilities other than teaching. All international students (other than those whose native language is English) are expected to obtain permission from the University to teach by the end of their first year. Those who fail to achieve this goal may lose financial support.