PTI published one more interesting bit of data about the TOEFL test in India. According to a report published in the Deccan Herald:
“The data showed that the percentage of Indians taking TOEFL to attend graduate or postgraduate programmes has increased from 70.84 per cent in 2021 to 71.87 per cent in 2022.”
While it is true that about 100% of the Indian test-takers I communicate with are planning to take the test for graduate and postgraduate programs, I really didn’t expect the official figure to be that high. Where are all the college-bound students? And the undergrads? Over at the nearest IELTS test center, I guess.
As I’ve expressed a few times here, the breakup of the IELTS monopoly on language testing for the Canadian SDS is really good news for the folks at ETS. About 350,000 Indian students applied for Canadian study permits last year. I don’t have the statistics, but one imagines that most of them applied through the SDS. A majority of those students are bound for colleges. They represent a market that ETS has not, up to now, tapped into.
With the right marketing and the right attention to customer experience the TOEFL test could expand quite a lot beyond their current niche. And, as a bonus, ETS doesn’t need to compete with the folks at Duolingo, who are very good at marketing and customer experience.