A stark decline in the number of international students heading to Canada is one reason why test volumes are decreasing. The Toronto Star reports that 115, 470 students entered the country last year. That’s 61% less than the year before. I’ll post a link in the comments.
In recent years, a major part of Canada’s attractiveness as a study destination has been its immigration proposition: in just a handful of years an individual can progress from a short course of study to a post-graduation work permit and then permanent residence. But keep in mind that due to regulations that came into force back in November of 2024, it is usually necessary to take an English test at all three steps in this journey. As you can imagine, this has made Canada pretty important to testing firms.
Students heading to Canada have traditionally favored the IELTS. But Canadian study visa applications don’t come with a list of mandated English tests, so students are free to choose from a wide variety of options. My alma mater (a middling school on the east coast) accepts scores from eight different tests, for instance. Anecdotally, it seems like Pearson’s PTE and the Duolingo English Test have gained popularity among Canada-bound students in recent years. A recent IDP Education financial report highlighted on-shore testing in Canada as a bright spot in challenging times.
One fun wrinkle is that while university applications require scores from the IELTS Academic test (or some other academic-ish English test), the PGWP requires scores from the IELTS General test (or the CELPIP General test or the PTE Core). So even if your course of study was short enough that your original test score is still valid following your graduation, you will have to retest. Savvy timing could possibly enable people to use the same scores for PGWP and PR, though.