Pearson opens new centres in Australia to support regional push

Pearson, the English-language test provider has opened 5 new centres in Australia. It says the move will help support Australia’s push to increase the number of international students and foreign workers in regional Australia. 

With the addition of the new 5 centres, the number of PTE (Pearson Test of English) centres has increased to 31. The new centres are located in: 

1. Hobart (Tasmania) 
2. Cairns (Queensland) 
3. Geelong (Victoria) 
4. Canberra (ACT) 
5. Darwin (Northern Territory) 

Sasha Hampson is the head of the PTE Academic (Asia Pacific). According to her, the locations were chosen as per the growing response of foreign students who needed access to English testing. PTE aims to support the Australian Govt. who are currently focusing on moving more immigrants to regional areas. 

Ms Hampson said that the growing demand is due to the increasing number of skilled foreign workers. It is also due to the Destination Australia program launched by the Govt. in March this year. 

Ms Hampson further added that “Destination Australia” is a great way to encourage more workers and students to move to the regional areas. Regional Australia has some of the most beautiful parts of Australia. Not only do the migrants get to live in a beautiful area but also enjoy a high-quality learning experience. 

Pearson had opened two new PTE centres in 2018. It plans to open more centres in places like Townsville (Queensland) and Newcastle (NSW). 

Ms Hampson also says that the growing popularity of the PTE can also be attributed to its focus on providing exams driven by artificial intelligence instead of manual invigilation. The feedback from students is that pen and paper examinations held in large halls with hundreds of students is no longer convenient. The demand for such examinations is on the decline while the popularity of PTE is booming. 

In 2019, PTE would have completed ten years of being in operation. 

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