The English test that opens the door to international study and work
Indian students are an ambitious and talented bunch. More than 750,000 people from the subcontinent studied abroad in 2018-2019, according to ICEF Monitor reports. Many of them see a university education abroad as a gateway to personal growth and international employability. In fact, it’s such a big opportunity that up to 91 percent of students still plan to find a way to study abroad, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Let’s take a look at their destinations of choice and some of the challenges they’ll face on the way. We’ll also explore how Pearson PTE - a globally-recognised and accepted English proficiency test - is helping them get there.
Top destinations for Indian Students
In terms of student preference, the top five destinations of choice for Indian students are the
U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Of all the destinations, the U.S. is the biggest draw, with approximately 193,000 Indian students deciding to study there in 2019-2020. It’s a top choice if you are looking for a unique cultural experience and a wealth of opportunities.
Canada is an increasingly popular destination among Indian students - the latest figures show that approximately 170,000 choose to study there. Known for its scenic beauty and standard of living, the country offers affordable, high-quality education, a safe and secure environment, and favourable immigration policies for Indian university applicants.
The UK is still a top student destination, with world-renowned universities, a history of innovation, and a mix of urban and rural experiences. In 2019-2020, approximately 37,500 Indian students were granted study visas - a 93% increase over 2018, according to The Times of India.
Australia, too, is more in demand as a study destination, owing to its world-class education, job opportunities, and the offer of scholarships for Indian students. Around 107,000 students chose it as their study destination in 2019.
New Zealand is a small country with a big future - beautiful countryside, growing international influence, and top-quality education are just some of the reasons students choose to go there. Though only 1,600 first-time student visas were granted to Indian citizens in 2019, that represented an increase of 63% over previous years.
Studying abroad: a crucial requirement
Students who choose this path must meet a crucial requirement: They need to take an English proficiency test as part of their university admissions process, and often for residential visa and work reasons too. This means they will be tested on a variety of English language skills, including speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
A cursory glance at the options will uncover a number of official tests to choose from. Yet despite many of them being recognised by governments and university admissions departments, they’re not all alike.
An Internationally-recognised test
Pearson PTE has a number of advantages over competing exam options. It offers students and job seekers a fair and flexible way of proving their English language proficiency. Most importantly, it’s accepted by thousands of academic programmes, including prestigious institutions such as Harvard Business School, INSEAD and Yale. It’s also recognised by the governments of Canada, the UK, USA, Australia, and New Zealand.
On top of all this, Pearson PTE stands out from the crowd for a number of important reasons:
- Pearson PTE offers unparalleled flexibility: It can be booked as little as 24 hours in advance of a test session, 365 days a year. Testing is also available in more than 350 test centres in over 70 countries. That means busy candidates can take advantage of the test when they have a last-minute opportunity.
- It’s (really) fast: Sometimes test-takers just don’t have time to wait around for results - job offers and university places can expire quickly. Pearson PTE typically delivers results in two days, so there’s certainly no hanging around nervously waiting for the final score.
- It’s fair: Candidates do not interact with human examiners because everything is done on the computer and scored by artificially intelligent software. With 25 years of solid research behind it, Pearson PTE machine marking is as accurate as a human examiner. Moreover, computers have no unconscious biases and so only mark the answers - not a candidate’s accent, appearance, or opinions.
- Finally, Pearson PTE test-takers have the freedom to send their score to the institutions of their choice an unlimited number of times, at no extra cost.
Pearson PTE has partnered with E2Language to help Indian Students live their study abroad dreams
To improve the preparation eco-system we have launched Pearson Classroom, an online teacher-driven student success platform for high-stakes English exams.
Our aim is to address ‘educational institutions’ demand for online resources and deliver a one-stop solution for high-stakes English exam preparation. We are providing full access to the course materials, questions, language exercises, and practice tests.
This will help students prepare for Pearson PTE - and other high stakes exams - and go on to study abroad to realise their ambitions and dreams for the future.
Learn more at Pearson PTE.