The course has been designed for the students of the Bachelor in International Relations programme and is aimed at developing language and communication skills in English to the C1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in multiple contexts such as reading, listening, writing and speaking. At the same time, the course is aimed at promoting autonomous learning and critical thinking. The one-year course is divided into two tracks: General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes/Business English (ESP/BE). GE track combines language development and intensive IELTS preparation with training in all parts of the IELTS test to achieve a C1+ level. As for the second track, the first term is devoted to addressing issues in Political Studies. Besides learning the related vocabulary, students will familiarize themselves with, systematize or revise the information regarding such concepts as ‘politics vs. policy’, ‘regimes’, ‘government’, ‘conflict and peace’, etc. Concerning the second term, students will tackle economic and business issues. Some of them are of general nature: management, work and motivation, recruitment, etc. The others are specific: securities and stock market, government and taxation, banking, etc. The IELTS preparation manifests itself in developing all four skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking with exercises in the IELTS format designed for these topics by the instructors. With reading and listening, these are the overall comprehension of the text and extracting certain information from it. Speaking is developed through in-class discussions, IELTS 2-minute talks on the topics covered and comments on quotations. Writings builds on speaking skills as students learn to summarize the main ideas of the texts, express their point of view on the issues at hand as well as provide a comprehensible description of a visual (a line graph, a pie chart, etc.).