These intensive non-credit courses have been designed to prepare students for college and university. Students take a combination of “core” courses that emphasize essential language skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing, and “elective” courses that cover a variety of topics, such as pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary, and test-taking strategies. This program fulfills the requirements of F-1 visa students.

These sequential part-time ESL courses offer the basic speaking, listening, reading and writing skills that ESL students need to use English fluently. Successful completion of these courses is necessary before taking most Specialty ESL courses. Specialty ESL courses allow students to use their developing English language skills in real world situations while focusing on academic readiness, business, or American cultural studies.

NOVA's Employment Readiness program is for non-native English speakers who wish to enter or advance in the U.S. employment market. During the program, students prepare a professional resume, practice job interviews, and receive personalized job search assistance.