Das E - KU Institut für sprachliche und interkulturelle The E - KU Institute of Language and Intercultural Communication in Nitra is an accredited test centre for the ECL Examinations.

The Creator of the ECL Tests

After many years of professional preparatory work the Member States of the European Union established a consortium in 1992, with London as the centre. With the help of the ERASMUS and later the LINGUA programmes its task was to develop a uniform language test in the languages of the Member States of the European Union. In accordance with the EU unification policy the Member States that formed the consortium wanted to ensure equivalency and recognition of the certificates in each language without having to be validated nationally. (Nostrification).

Competence, Languages

The professional responsibility of the "ECL" language tests - ECL stands for "European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages" - was taken up by a prestigious university in the home country of each language that constructs the tests and evaluates the papers. On the basis of the uniform criteria established in the first phase of standardisation, ECL exams can at present be taken in English, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Serbian, Rumunian, Slovak and Spanish. Tests are being developed for all the other official languages of the EU EU according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Who Chooses the ECL exam

Among those who decide to take an ECL exam are a growing number of students, researchers and representatives from different areas of professional life who want to work or continue their studies abroad.With the growing tendency towards international mobility, the ECL certificate, which is obtainable in most of the European languages, represents an important addition to your passport.

The Secretariat of the ECL Consortium

Within the framework of the second phase of the standardisation of the ECL tests that started in 1999 the Consortium extends the tests over the other EU languages (Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Portuguese and Swedish). There has been a significant change in the coordination of the tests: in September 1999 the Secretariat was transferred from London to Pécs, Hungary to the Foreign Language Centre of University of Pécs. This Hungarian institute will coordinate the test construction, administration of the tests and the issue of certificates in the future.