- Monopoly of the world’s most taken English language test is at stake as Canada authorizes 4 new tests
- Corporate giant IDP Education faces criticism for compromising the credibility and transparency of IELTS
The monopoly of IELTS, the world’s most taken English language test is coming to an end as Canada approves 4 new English language tests. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) last week announced that it will accept language test results from four new tests for Student Direct Stream (SDS) applicants.
IRCC will begin to accept test results of the four new tests including CELPIP General, CAEL, PTE Academic, and TOEFL iBT effective from 10 August, 2023. Every year, around 30 lakh people take the IELTS exam and 11,000 plus institutions worldwide have been considering the IELTS score as a standard of language proficiency. IRCC’s recent announcement is expected to change the scenario dramatically.
These developments in the international education sector are also going to set challenge for the international education giant IDP Education Limited. The ownership of IELTS in India is with the Australia based company.
It was in 2021 that IDP Education wholly acquired IELTS from the British Council for £130 million. Many international education agents, including the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India, had raised voice against IDP’s takeover of IELTS. Education agents pointed out the fact that the British Council and IDP being the only providers of IELTS in more than 70 of the 140 countries, where IELTS is available.
Both IELTS and IDP had no competition in their markets. There was also criticism that the acquisition would affect the transparency of the international education sector as IDP is a private company listed in the stock market and working for the profit of shareholders and simultaneously being a recruitment agency within the sector.
The crux of the criticism was that since IDP manages the administration of the IELTS tests, the information of all registered students would be exclusively available to IDP. But IDP clarified that the candidate data is not shared between IELTS and IDP’s student placement teams.
IRCC’s decision puts a huge threat to the monopoly of both IELTS and IDP Education in the sector. IELTS language testing is a major contributor to IDP Education’s revenue. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs estimate that IDP education will lose at least 30 percent of applicants under the Canadian Student Direct Stream (SDS).
The company lost $1.1 billion in value after its share price fell 14% in a single day. There are also strong indications that more countries will follow Canada’s lead in implementing the English language test framework.
