IDP Education and the British Council are to resume IELTS testing in Vietnam after being forced to postpone all exams since November 10.
The English language test remains suspended at many centres still awaiting government approval, delaying some students’ study plans.
Earlier this month, local education departments were reportedly ordered to review foreign language exams in their region by the Vietnam government, following suspicion of cheating and mismanagement.
The British Council issued an alert on its website warning about “widespread attempts” to commit fraud, including adverts claiming to be able to change test scores, supply test questions ahead of the exam and issue fake results.
All foreign language test providers in Vietnam were ordered to suspend exams from November 10, subject to review by the Ministry of Education and Training.
Government representatives told local media that the postponement was due to exams being improperly managed and organisations failing to complete approval documents.
“We are grateful for the approval to commence in three cities across four test venues”
The British Council Vietnam has now received approval from the government to resume testing at 10 of its centres.
IDP Education will also resume IELTS testing at four of its test centres in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Danang. Exams are still suspended at IDP centres in 37 cities across the country as the organisation awaits further approval from the education ministry.
“We are grateful for the approval to commence in three cities across four test venues,” said Sang Nguyen, IDP Education’s Vietnam country director. “We will continue to work closely with MOET for approval to deliver IELTS in our other locations across Vietnam.”
Nguyen said that “a large number” of test-takers had been impacted by the delays and that it will “take some time” to reschedule all of them.
The British Council said that it will contact all affected test-takers via email and that it is welcoming new registrations.
Some students travelled to neighbouring countries to take the popular English language exam, rather than wait for testing to resume.
