<![CDATA[While higher education institutions increasingly enforce external certification alongside undergraduate thesis requirements to boost graduate employability, this dual obligation often creates strategic and cognitive tensions for final-year EFL students. However, empirical insights into how students negotiate these competing academic priorities during their thesis preparation remain underexplored. This qualitative case study investigates final-year EFL students’ perceptions of additional certification requirements in relation to their preparation for thesis defence. The study involved eight undergraduate students from various higher education institutions in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically to explore students’ experiences and perspectives. The findings revealed two major themes. The first theme, Certification as Future Investment, indicated that most participants perceived certification as a valuable asset that enhanced their professional readiness, confidence, and competitiveness in the job market. The second theme, Cognitive Overload and Divided Focus, showed that a minority of participants experienced difficulties managing simultaneous academic demands, particularly due to the overlap between thesis preparation and certification requirements. The results suggest that students’ concerns were not directed at certification itself, but rather at the timing and implementation of the policy during the final stage of their studies. These findings contribute to English language education policy by highlighting the need to realign certification schedules with students’ academic phases while integrating student-centered pedagogical support in higher education.]]>
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