College English Test results no longer mandatory requirement for

College English Test (CET) Band 4 and Band 6 are no longer a mandatory requirement for undergraduate students to get graduated or obtain their bachelors’ degrees, a decision made by Xi’an Jiaotong University, a national key university in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Wednesday has sparked heated discussions online. 

According to a statement released by the university, the college council for the undergraduate students has decided that taking part in or passing the CET Band 4 or Band 6 testing, or any other English proficiency tests inside or outside the campus will not be a mandatory requirement for undergraduate students to get graduated or obtain their bachelors’ degrees starting from September 1, 2023. 

CET is a national standardized English language test for college and university students in China, which has been in operation since 1987 as an assessment tool to see whether the students have met the curriculum requirements of their compulsory college English course. 

A faculty member from the university confirmed the decision on Thursday and said that it is a reasonable decision since some other universities also have implemented similar policies.

The university’s decision soon sparked heated discussions online since the English proficiency test result as a compulsory requirement for all the non-English-major students in Chinese colleges and universities to get graduated has long been a controversy.