Skills for English, a new language test from PSI Services and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, has been made a UKVI-approved Secure English Language Test.
The approval comes after PSI, a global provider of assessment services, reached a commercial arrangement with the UK Home Office last year to deliver the SELT for overseas UK visa applicants.
“This is a major milestone for our Skills for English brand”
Chinese students have had access to PSI’s fully computer-based testing experience via its global test centre network from October 12. The rest of the world will be given access later in 2020.
“This is a major milestone for our Skills for English brand which we created jointly with SQA,” said Janet Garcia, executive vice president of PSI’s Global Credentialing Division.
“The UKVI-approval is widely acknowledged as the hallmark of an effective, high-quality qualification and we are thrilled now to be able offer a Skills for English (UKVI) test.”
John McMorris, director of business development at SQA said that the approval is the culmination of an “intense period of work” between his organisation and PSI to create a qualification that can service the needs of those seeking to work, study or settle in English-speaking countries.
“Having a UKVI-approved SELT is a major achievement, and we will be working hard to build out the Skills for English brand for a range of other purposes,” McMorris said.
The approval of Skills for English as a UKVI Secure English Language Test means that it can be used for all types of visa applications where evidence of English language proficiency is required.
However the launch of the new test has been impacted by Covid-19 and will be phased with bookings for test sessions available first in China and Hong Kong. Tests in an additional 120 countries will follow a month later.
All of the test’s SELT centres strictly adhere to the latest safety procedures with regard to COVID-19 based on various international, state, and local orders and guidelines and CDC and WHO recommendations.
PSI has over 70 years of experience providing worldwide testing solutions to a wide variety of customers across public and private sector industries.
The delivery of the new test will further reinforce PSI’s presence in the global secure testing market, which comprises over 2,000 testing locations spanning 160 countries, through which it delivers some 15 million assessments per year.
