Due to the need of the Department of Scholarships to prepare the UQU faculty members and the potential external scholarship students, and out of the center's belief in the vital role that it can play in this area, the English Language Center held a training program incorporating a number of workshops to train the UQU affiliates on the appropriate ways to prepare for the IELTS, acquainting them with the needed skills and strategies to pass the exam successfully.

The English Language Center formed a team of female instructors, under the supervision of Her Excellency the Deputy Director of the English Language Center, Dr. Sahar Al-Zahrani, to plan the training program, prepare training packages, and make other logistical preparations.

The center held two three-hour workshops each week, with a total of 24 training hours, over a period of a month, from 9 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1441 A.H. until 1 Rabi` Al-Thani, 1441 A.H.

The first week of the program started with the listening skill training, organized by Ms. Ghaida Felemban. It included an overview of the IELTS exam and shed light on several strategies, including clarification of English grammar rules, types of questions in the listening section of the exam, and sample IELTS practice tests. Moreover, a number of experimental tests were held for the male and female trainees during the training to put their acquired knowledge into practice. The first week was concluded by proposing recommendations and pieces of advice for the trainees to harness their listening skills, and providing them with useful resources for relevant academic listening practice.

In the second week, Ms. Sara Al-Zaidi and Ms. Sabah Al-Zahrani presented two workshops on the reading skills, acquainting the trainees with the reading section of the exam, types of questions, the general difficulties faced during reading, the most important skills, and successful strategies for solving the reading questions in the shortest time possible. In addition, the trainees had the chance to practice their acquired knowledge by taking an actual IELTS practice test. They were also briefed on the importance of vocabulary acquisition to develop all their language skills and the needed learning strategies, taking some practical exercises in this regard. The workshops concluded with providing the trainees with an abundance of resources to harness their reading skills, including the most important websites and applications that provide academic essays in various fields and sample IELTS practice tests.

In the third week, two workshops were held on writing skills, organized by Ms. Hajar Al-Harbi and Ms. Najwa Al-Zahrani. The workshops touched upon the most important academic writing skills, followed by a detailed explanation of the components of a good essay. The two trainers reviewed the most important differences between the two questions required in the writing section of the (IELTS) test, in terms of the types of questions, the required content, model answers, some common mistakes, and time-division and management strategies for answering them.

The program concluded its fourth week with a presentation by Ms. Hillary Clement and Dr. Abdul-Aziz Diop, an American citizen, on speaking skills. The presentation educated the trainees about the IELTS speaking section and its nature, in addition to explaining some related strategies and reviewing some question samples from previous IELTS exams. The training also incorporated practical applications as the trainees undertook some exercises. At the end of the week, the attendees exchanged discussions with all the trainers, and put forward some opinions and inquiries.

At the end of the program, the 69 male and female trainees expressed their admiration for the training program and how they benefited greatly from the information provided during the four-week training, covering all sections of the IELTS exam. They expressed their sincere thanks and appreciation for the trainers and all those in charge of the program. Furthermore, the trainees presented an honorary shield to Her Excellency the Deputy Director of the English Language Center, Dr. Sahar Al-Zahrani, in recognition of her lauded efforts in organizing this successful training program.