Almost one million candidates sat an IELTS (the International English Language Testing System) exam last year; a record for the our jointly-managed scheme. Entries for the test, which we run in partnership with IDP: IELTS Australia and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, have almost doubled in the last three years.

EXAMS FOR A CHANGING WORLD
938,000 candidates sat the exam in 2007, a figure encouraged by university entrance requirements, new immigration policies and professional recognition throughout the English-speaking world.

OUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORK OVERSEAS
The IELTS test is a major element of our English language work overseas. It is already recognised by educational institutions, employers, organisations and government agencies in over 68 countries. It is a partnership operation, it generates a considerable financial contribution to the organisation, and it consolidates our relationship with high level stakeholders such as the British, Canadian and Australian Governments, as well as the Higher Education and professional association networks in several countries. IELTS is now recognised globally by 6,000 organisations, institutions and governments.

GAINING AN ADVANTAGE
Isobel Oliveira, IELTS Marketing Manager, explains this growth. 'IELTS is a high stakes test, and becoming increasingly more so. There are two main drivers attributable to its importance and popularity. Firstly the increase in global mobility for work and study and the need for a reliable English language test to satisfy immigration authorities and universities.

'We know that the IELTS face-to-face speaking test is an advantage to test takers, as other tests do not include this skill, and it is essential for employers and universities to have a reliable assessment of speaking skills. We also have positive feedback about the test still being widely available in paper format as candidates feel more in control, though we will be gradually rolling out a computer-based IELTS version in 2008 as an option to cater for the new generation of test takers who may feel more at home on a computer keyboard than with a pencil in their hands.

GROWING BRAND
Isobel adds, 'This success is a result of a tremendous amount of effort by many people around the world including more than 300 test centres, more than 2,500 examiners, the dedicated IELTS teams at British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge ESOL We want to recognise the excellent efforts of the global IELTS network of centres, tremendous professionalism in customer service and administration, and growth in marketing of the IELTS brand. The momentum is not stopping there with many of our centres growing test capacity, and where required, more centres are being established’.