Language Proficiency
Canada/US Graduates:
If you are enrolled in or have graduated from a pharmacy degree program accredited by CCAPP or ACPE, you are considered to have fulfilled OCP’s language proficiency requirement.
International Pharmacy Graduates:
You can demonstrate your language proficiency by submitting objective evidence (i.e., passing one of the test combinations listed below) or by submitting other evidence that you are able to speak and write in English or French with reasonable language proficiency.
Objective Evidence of Language Proficiency
The Registrar will generally accept one of the following as evidence of reasonable language proficiency:
*No minimum score set; all components are required. Please contact the testing agency for more information
NOTES:
- Since January 2007, the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies is no longer a provider of the French Proficiency Test to the Ontario College of Pharmacists.
- While test like the French Proficiency Test (TBF), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Computerized TOEFL are no longer available, OCP will continue to accept valid and current scores.
- All components of the IELTS, MELAB and iBT-TOEFL fluency tests must be attempted at the same sitting in order for the results to meet OCP's language proficiency requirement.
- Language proficiency test scores are only valid for two years from the date of the test. Test scores must be sent directly to OCP by the testing institution. Scores must be valid for you to progress from being a student to an intern, and from intern to pharmacist. If test scores have expired during your in-service training, please contact Registration staff.
Other Evidence of Language Proficiency
If you wish to provide non-objective evidence of language proficiency, your application and supporting documents will be referred to a panel of the Registration Committee.
No assurances can be provided to you that you will be able to establish to a Panel’s satisfaction that you meet the language proficiency requirement. As well, the process of providing sufficiently persuasive information is substantially greater than that of taking one of the standard language proficiency tests. Nevertheless, individuals have the right under the legislation to have a Panel of the Registration Committee consider other evidence should he/she wish to do so.
Individuals who have taken their pharmacy degrees in English or French, but whose first language was not English or French, have had difficulty in satisfying a Panel of the Registration Committee that they meet the language proficiency requirement since OCP has evidence that the large majority of those persons are unable to show reasonable language proficiency through an objective examination.
There is no restriction on the type of information you may submit to a panel. However, it must be sufficiently reliable and persuasive to satisfy a panel that you possess reasonable language proficiency in English or French. The following is a list of examples you might submit:
- Evidence of your having authored pharmacy publications in English or French, accompanied by evidence from your professor/supervisor attesting to your language proficiency,
- Evidence of a long-standing history of working in a pharmacy-related environment where services were provided in English or French verified by regulated professionals or recognized academics,
- Evidence that you obtained your pharmacy degree at a faculty of pharmacy where the language of instruction was English or French, followed by practice in an English or French speaking environment,
- Evidence that your elementary, secondary and pharmacy education was undertaken in English or French,
- Evidence of previous successful English or French language proficiency test scores as listed above.
Please click here for Language Proficiency Assessments contact information.