Asked to provide proof of English proficiency

September 2014

Wang Wei* is a student. He was born overseas and moved to Australia when he was 11.

Wang Wei applied to study accounting at an institution. Wang Wei was asked to provide proof of his proficiency in English when other local students were not asked. Wang Wei felt that he was being discriminated against because of his race, and that the institution had assumed he had poor English proficiency because of his name.

Wang Wei lodged a complaint with ADNSW.

ADNSW wrote to the institution seeking their response to the complaint. They said that the staff member had handled Wang Wei’s application in accordance with the relevant policy, but they realised from this incident that the policy was inadequate.

The institution apologised to Wang Wei. They undertook to amend their policy on English requirements for the admission of local students and review all their other policies where English proficiency requirements were specified.

*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.