Summer Bridge Program (SBP)

1st Round: 26th August – 13th September 2012

2nd Round: 9th September - 20th September 2012

What is Summer Bridge?

Summer Bridge is an intensive three-week program of comprehensive skill-building and orientation for freshmen students who are new to CIC.  The program is for students accepted for the fall of 2012/2013 who demonstrate the need to improve their skills in English and computer. 

Purpose of the Program...

The purpose of the Summer Bridge Program is to provide an intensive orientation program for entering freshmen and transfer students who are not fully prepared to meet the demands of college instruction and to prepare them for the transition to college life. Our goal is to generate in our participants the skills and motivation necessary for success in completing a bachelor degree.

What will I do in the program?

Summer Bridge participants will engage in daily activities for three consecutive learning-intensive weeks. Students will attend math, English, study skills, orientation, critical thinking and choosing your major and career path classes which last all morning and into the afternoon. Students will meet the staff and faculty of the campus, and meet and work with new friends and future classmates. Additionally, there are campus tours, sporting events, extra-curricular activities, and guest speakers. All of these-including meals  and transportation to event will be provided for participants.

Staff of the Summer Bridge Program?

Professional and Para-professional staff who are experienced in working with and providing support services to a wide variety of students throughout the academic year; instructors &TAs who teach at CIC who have a proven commitment to working with students of diverse educational and cultural backgrounds, trained graduates and senior students of CIC who have an interest in helping other students to successfully make the transition from high school to college life; these make up the experienced staff of the Summer Bridge Program.

Benefits of Participation:

• Orientation for positive  social and academic transition to college
• Enhance your potential for academic success
• Develop networks of "study buddies"
• Meet with academic advisor, mentors and freshmen coaches
• Register for subsequent Fall semester classes

What students will learn:

• Where facilities are located on campus
• How to use the library and IT facilities
• Study, time, and money management skills
• What it is like to be in a college
• Self-advocacy skills
• How to choose your major/future career
• College Academic integrity and brand promise

Topics to be covered:

• English IELETs preparation
• Study, time, and money management
• College life
• Introduction to CIC facilities
• How to choose your major/future career
• Introduction to the CIC Brand Promise

Program Fees: L.E 2000

The fees of include:

• Sessions
• Extracurricular activities
• Sports
• Two Meals
• Transportation

HOW TO APPLY:

Fill in an application for the Summer Bridge Program to the admission front desk together with the receipt of payment. You will be contacted later on with further details on the schedule of the program.

The Summer Bridge Program will include the following:

1. 1.     Intensive English Course

This course will help students improve their English Language Proficiency  and prepare them for their content courses at CIC that are delivered in English. This course will also help prepare students for the IELTS and the CIC English Placement Test (EPT). It will show them different tricks and tips that will help them achieve a high score on the test. The final assessment of this course will be an EPT, after which students will be placed according to their scores.

1. 2.     Orientation

This part of the day will focus on orienting the students with what they will need to know about their new college.  Students will be given a tour of the campus on the first day, followed by a different orientation every day that will focus on what they need to know about each department (admissions, finance, English,..etc.)

1. 3.     Computer Skills

Each week student will be oriented with the basics of several computer software programs. For example the first week : Word; second week: Excel; third week: PowerPoint.

1. 4.     English Fun Time

Each week students will be enjoying a fun activity that will allow them to improve their English while having fun! For example:  for the first week’s activity, students will be shown a movie, after which they will be given a task to do in English (related to the movie).

Note: The 2nd round is only going to be Intensive English without the development and other activities.

English Requirements

English Language Proficiency

Students at CIC are expected to maintain a certain level of English Language, as all courses are delivered in English. The English language program at CIC is designed to help students achieve the required level of English proficiency for transfer to CIC’s partner universities and to be able to continue studying content courses in English within the Egyptian CIC program.

English Placement Test Cut-off Scores

All students, registering at CIC, whose “mother tongue” is not English, and who do not have a valid TOEFL iBT/ IELTS score, must take an English Placement Test (EPT).

• Students should contact student admissions to book a test date, as they will not be allowed to take an EPT without a booking.
• EPTs are divided into 2 parts: the written section which is held from 10:30 to 12:30 and the oral section which is starts at 1:00 p.m. Students will not be allowed to take the EPT if they are more than 10 mins late.
• The EPT is the same for all CIC students. Students may take the placement test a second time providing two weeks have elapsed between tests.
• Students are not allowed to take the placement test more than 3 times.
• Students, who score less than 1 on the EPT, must wait for two weeks before re-taking the EPT. If repeated with same result (less than 1) for both retakes of the test, the student will not be accepted into CIC unless his/her English proficiency improves and they are able to achieve the required score.
• Both Student Affairs & Student Support departments must advise all new CIC student applicants to pick up the English Placement Orientation Booklet before taking the test.
• Progressive EPT’s are offered at the end of each semester to encourage students to jump levels according to their new score on the EPT. Students are allowed to register in the higher level if they achieve the required score. Students have to pass the IEP course in which they were previously enrolled in order to take the Progressive EPT. Progressive EPTs must be completed before the start of classes for the current semester.
• All test re-takes must be completed before the start of classes for the current semester.

Intensive English Program (IEP)

• For non-credit English courses, students are placed according to their score on the EPT, unless they provide an official English proficiency exam score that qualifies them for credit English courses in the Canadian programs.
• The student who fails an IEP course is allowed to re-take it, however he will not be allowed to take any other CREDIT courses.
• As a result of a second failure in any IEP course, an approval from the Academic Council is required to re-take this course. A third failure will mean dismissal from CIC.

Passing grade for English courses

Students must attain a 60% (Canadian and Joint Programs) and 50% (Egyptian Program) passing grade in Eng 99, 100 and BL. For Eng 101 and 102, students must attain a 50% passing grade. Students must attend at least 80% of classes to progress to the next level.

University of Ottawa, Cape Breton University and University of Windsor Programs

For unconditional registration into the University of Ottawa, Cape Breton University or University of Windsor, students must achieve the following TOEFL iBT/IELTS scores:

• Students are required to take an official English Proficiency Exam (IELTS or  TOEFL IBT) in order to qualify for complete admission into our partner Canadian  universities, and hence be able to enroll in credit English courses (Academic 
   Writing, etc. )
• Students in the Canadian programs ONLY may enroll into English credit courses (Academic Writing, etc.)  directly without having to take English non-credit courses (including 101 & 102) by providing an official IELTS score of 7 (with 6.5 written section) for UO or 6.5 (with no band below 6) for CBU and Windsor University programs.
• However, students in the Joint program MUST take Eng 101 and 102 courses, as they are credit courses required by the Egyptian Ministry.