IDP Education’s investor call today touched on their move to administering the IELTS test in China. That’s a topic that has garnered quite a lot of interest over the past few months. As you know, IDP administered IELTS tests there in November and December… and then stopped.
Around the 26:00 mark, CEO Tennealle O’Shannessy said:
“We made good progress in positioning ourselves in the China market with IELTS. IDP has established a strong cooperative relationship with a respected professional examination service provider in China. And in half-one we conducted IELTS pilot tests in November and December which performed strongly and received positive customer feedback and endorsement. We will continue with preparations for scaling the offering from an operations, technology and regulatory perspective. Currently, the Chinese Ministry of Education is in the process of approving the official expanded entry of IDP IELTS into the Chinese market.”
During the Q and A section there was some related bafflegab starting around 37:00, and towards the end of it O’Shannessy noted that:
“We continue to engage with the Chinese government who are really pleasingly taking a very encouraging view of our expansion into China.”
And:
“The long term business case continues to be very attractive, however what we would say is the regulatory processes associated with the approval for an official launch have slowed our launch and ramp-up plans to some degree… but we remain confident in the long term market opportunity.”
Further discussion around 42:00, referred to some “short term delays” while waiting for approval from the Chinese authorities, though O’Shannessy again stated that the longer term plan still holds up. She is hopeful that these issues will be “worked through” in the “the next couple of months.”
These comments line up with popular speculation that regulatory hurdles have impacted IDP’s entry into the market. But test takers and investors alike will be happy to hear that they may soon be handled.
(the transcriptions are my own… forgive any errors)