Your University Can Set Its Own English Test

Every other English requirement in this series names the test, or names a list of tests, and stops there.

On a UK Student visa at degree level, the university may run the assessment itself and ask you to do a different test entirely.

SpeakShark is free whichever instrument you end up in front of, three AI conversation sessions a day with no card.

In this guide: two levels · the delegation · only above degree level · the standard holds · the pattern · against work visas · what to do · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

Degree level or above: B2. Below degree level: B1.
A Higher Education Provider can assess your English itself at degree level.
It may ask you to do a different test, not a Secure English Language Test.
Whatever it uses must still be equivalent to B2.
Below degree level there is no such delegation.

The level follows the course

The Student visa requirement is set by what you are studying rather than by who you are.

What you are studying	Level required
Degree level or above	equivalent to CEFR B2
Below degree level	CEFR B1

The guidance states you must prove you can read, write, speak and understand English to the relevant level on the CEFR scale.

Four skills at both levels, which is worth noting because the two skill route that exists on some other immigration paths does not appear here. We set out where the speaking and listening only route runs, and where its ceiling sits, in the UK routes that only test speaking and listening.

The university can assess you itself

Here is the provision that makes this route different from everything else in the series.

If you are studying at degree level or above, your Higher Education Provider can assess your level of English themselves. This means they may ask you to do a different test. This must still be equivalent to a CEFR level B2.

Three things are being said at once.

The institution is the assessor. Not the Home Office, not an approved provider.

The instrument is theirs. A different test means something other than the Secure English Language Test list, which is otherwise the only currency in UK immigration.

The standard is not theirs. It must still be equivalent to B2.

That is a delegation of the assessment while retaining the benchmark, and it is rare. Everywhere else in this series, the body setting the level also names the instrument, and usually names it very tightly. One optical regulator accepts a single provider and nothing else, covered in the regulator that wants 7.0 in speaking.

It applies only at degree level and above

The delegation is not general, and the boundary is stated.

The provision is written for study at degree level or above. Below degree level, the guidance describes the requirement as CEFR level B1 proved through a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider, with no equivalent sentence handing the assessment to the institution.

So the same immigration route runs two different systems side by side.

Study level	Level	Who assesses
Degree level or above	B2	an approved provider, or the university itself
Below degree level	B1	an approved provider

The asymmetry is worth understanding rather than resenting. A university admitting somebody to a degree is making an academic judgement about them anyway, has an admissions function built for exactly that, and carries the consequences if the student cannot follow the course.

The instrument moves, the standard does not

The sentence people misread is the last one, so it is worth isolating.

This must still be equivalent to a CEFR level B2.

A different test does not mean a lower bar. It means a different route to the same bar, chosen by an institution that has to defend the judgement.

Whether any particular provider's internal assessment is easier or harder in practice is not something the guidance addresses, and not something we can establish from a page. What the page fixes is the level.

That is the same structure as the osteopathy regulator, which accepts any test demonstrating C1 while naming its preferred one, covered in the regulator that accepts any test proving C1. Open on the instrument, closed on the level.

Where delegated assessment appears

Reading this batch as a whole, a pattern is visible in who gets to run their own assessment.

Setting	Assessment delegated to
Student visa, degree level	the university admitting you
Qualified teacher status, assessment only	the provider assessing your teaching
GDC dental registration	an employer or tutor who supervised you
NMC nursing, supplementary route	a line manager who observed you for a year
Work visas, general	nobody. An approved test only

The delegation appears where an institution already has a sustained relationship with the person and is judging them for another purpose anyway. It disappears where the state is dealing with a stranger.

The teaching version is covered in England measures teachers' English in GCSE grades, the dental one in the dental reference route, and the nursing one in missing IELTS by 0.5 can cost you a year of work.

Set out like that, the Student visa provision stops looking like a loophole and starts looking like the same principle applied at the point where it fits best.

Against the work visa requirement

Both main UK work routes now require B2 through a Secure English Language Test, following a change pinned to 8 January 2026, covered in the Skilled Worker requirement going from B1 to B2.

So degree level study and skilled work now sit at the same CEFR level, reached by different means.

Route	Level	Instrument
Student, degree level or above	B2	approved test or the university's own
Student, below degree level	B1	approved test
Skilled Worker	B2	approved test
Health and Care Worker	B2	approved test

A student and a skilled worker are being asked for the same standard. Only the student can be assessed by the institution admitting them.

What to do with this

Ask your Higher Education Provider first, if you are at degree level or above.
Do not book an approved test before asking. You may not need one.
Do not assume a university test is easier. The level is fixed at B2.
Below degree level, plan for an approved test at B1.
Check all four skills. Both levels are read, write, speak and understand.

Whichever instrument you end up in front of, the skill a university admissions assessment will look at hardest is the one that decides whether you can follow a seminar and be understood in it. Speaking does not improve by reading quietly. Role play scenarios and a daily speaking partner are the practical routes, testing your speaking level free shows where you stand, and CEFR levels for speaking explains what B1 and B2 describe. IELTS for UKVI by CEFR level and PTE Academic UKVI scores by CEFR level give the approved test numbers, the provider split by side of the border covers where you can sit one, and English certificates that expire covers validity. For how examiners mark spoken English, Cambridge speaking criteria by level works from real scored candidates.

What we could not verify

We did not check what tests providers actually use. That is set institution by institution.

We did not establish how equivalence to B2 is demonstrated by a provider using its own assessment.

We did not check whether every Higher Education Provider has this ability. The guidance describes it as something a provider can do.

We did not check the pre-sessional English course route, which sits alongside this on some admissions paths.

We did not check the position for other study routes. This is the Student visa page.

This is not immigration or admissions advice. It is a reading of published guidance, linked below.

How we researched this guide

The finding is in a paragraph after a two row table, which is a shape this batch keeps producing.

The table answers the question everybody arrives with, which is what level do I need. The paragraph underneath changes who administers the assessment, and a reader who has got their answer has already left.

It became a guide rather than a note because of the pattern it fits. Having written about a teaching provider that may set its own test, a dental referee who can replace one, and a nursing line manager whose reference supplements one, a university assessing its own applicants stops being an oddity and becomes the fourth instance of the same design.

Naming the boundary of the delegation was the part that needed care. It is stated for degree level and above, and the below degree level requirement is described in the ordinary way, so we set the two out as two systems on one route rather than describing the delegation as a general feature of student immigration.

We were careful with the equivalent to B2 sentence too. It is the sentence that stops this being a loophole, and it is the one most likely to be skipped by somebody hoping the university route is softer.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and a delegated assessment is the case where general ability matters more than exam technique.

If your university may ask you to do a different test, there is no format to learn in advance. What carries across every version of it is whether you can actually hold a conversation at the level.

You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still running. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Being straight about the limits: a free session runs five minutes with four turns, we issue no certificates, and we are not an approved SELT provider or a recognised assessment for any university.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a session. Sign up here if you do not yet know which test you will be sitting.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with Cambridge English, the IELTS partners, Pearson or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

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Sources

GOV.UK, Student visa, knowledge of English: the requirement to prove reading, writing, speaking and understanding to CEFR level B2 for study at degree level or above and B1 below degree level, the provision that a Higher Education Provider studying you at degree level or above can assess your level of English themselves and may ask you to do a different test, and the condition that this must still be equivalent to CEFR level B2
GOV.UK, Skilled Worker visa, knowledge of English: the B2 requirement on the work route, used for comparison
GOV.UK, prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test: the approved test lists that apply where an institution is not assessing you
Council of Europe, CEFR Table 1, common reference levels global scale: the definitions of B1 and B2

FAQ

What English level does a UK Student visa require?

It depends what you are studying. For a course at degree level or above the requirement is equivalent to CEFR level B2. For a course below degree level it is CEFR level B1. The requirement follows the course rather than the applicant.

Can a university set its own English test for a visa?

At degree level or above, yes. The guidance states that if you are studying at degree level or above, your Higher Education Provider can assess your level of English themselves, which means they may ask you to do a different test, and that this must still be equivalent to CEFR level B2.

Does that apply below degree level too?

No. The delegation is stated only for degree level or above. Below that, the route is a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider at CEFR level B1, with no equivalent provision for the institution to run its own assessment.

Is a university test easier than a SELT?

The guidance does not say, and it should not be assumed. The condition attached is that whatever the provider uses must still be equivalent to CEFR level B2, so the standard is fixed even though the instrument is not. What changes is who administers it, not where the bar sits.

Why is a student requirement lower than a work visa one?

They are not directly comparable, because the student rule scales with the course. Degree level study requires B2, which is the same level both main UK work visas now require, while sub-degree study requires B1. The work routes apply one level regardless of the job.

Which route should I plan for?

Ask your Higher Education Provider before booking anything, if you are studying at degree level or above. If they assess English themselves you may not need an approved test at all, and if they do not, you need one at the right level from an approved provider.