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Pearson opens language test centre in Iraq

In a further sign of growth in Iraq’s nascent study abroad market, global education company Pearson opened its first language testing centre in the county last month in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Pearson opened its first language testing centre last month in Erbil, IraqPearson opened its first language testing centre last month in Erbil, Iraq

“By delivering PTE Academic, we can support these students with a secure and fast English language test"

The centre will deliver the Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic, which is one of the tests commonly used to gauge the language ability of overseas student visa applicants.

Emma Stubbs, Senior Vice President of Pearson’s Language Testing division, said: “The opening of this new test centre supports our objective of providing the PTE Academic test whenever and wherever it is required, so extending our secure English language testing services to institutions and students in Iraq is an exciting milestone for us.”

The centre is being run in partnership with Britannia Educational Services – a leading British-Iraqi language training provider. Rasheda Zaher-Draey, joint founder of Britannia, said the centre would play an important role in supporting young people applying for scholarships through Kurdistan’s Human Capacity Development Program in Higher Education (HCDP) which helped 1,500 Iraqis study abroad last year.

“By delivering PTE Academic, we can support these students with a secure and fast English language test, so that they can apply for visas and programmes at universities to gain access to valuable opportunities to help them have a better future,” Zaher-Draey said.

The opening reflects the reflects the increasing engagement between international education operators and the Iraqi student market, as the country moves towards stability. This month the Iraqi government agreed to expand scholarships to the US, and British operator Levant uncovered significant scholarship-related opportunities in November. As for testing outfits, IELTS already operates through the British Council in Erbil and Baghdad, while TOEFL operates in both cities as well as in Basra.

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6 Responses to Pearson opens language test centre in Iraq

  1. Britannia Language school is the WORST Pearson could have chosen. The place has been a total farce since it started. They’ve bribed and cheated their way into the market, no to mention leaving teachers stranded with no money, no apartment and no flight home.
    I visit Erbil regularly. The stories on dave’s esl cafe are all true!

  2. Dear, pte staff
    we are eagerly waiting to be open pte test in erbil because of reputation of pte please hurry up to open the test as soon as possible there are hundreds of student waiting for ..
    thanx

  3. As an English native speaker, first hand experience with PTE has been cumbersome. I have written the test twice and each time Reading, writing and listening was above 80. Funny enough in both cases speaking was 64… Makes no sense.

    The scoring method is questionable and after the second time I question the integrity.

    The call centre is equally unhelpful, in fact they have a standard template that the respond with, each time requesting a re-write and a rescore which is paid for offcourse.

    They boast about quick turn around times, bit trust me you will write the test at least 5 times and spend a ridiculous amount of money.

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