Seoul, Korea (April 21, 2007) —

ETS today announced that it will provide an additional 70,000 TOEFL tests in Korea within this year to alleviate demand for the world-leading English proficiency exam.  The tests will include 50,000 paper based tests and at least 20,000 iBT tests.  The additions will more than double ETS’ capacity to offer the TOEFL in Korea in 2007, to 134,000 test opportunities to the end of this year.

ETS Senior Vice President Paul Ramsey said, “ETS is committed to ensuring that everyone in Korea who wishes to take the test has an opportunity to do so.  Providing 70,000 additional opportunities to test in a single country is unprecedented and indicative of the importance that ETS places on meeting the needs of Korean test takers.”

Demand in Korea for the TOEFL test has outstripped ETS’ capacity to meet that demand and led to massive traffic to the registration website and difficulties for Korean students attempting to register.  ETS has recorded up to 32 million hits within a single day from Korea alone, with available seats being registered within moments of being posted.

“We apologize for the inconvenience that students have faced during the registration process,“ said Mr. Ramsey.  “We are taking concrete steps to improve the situation in the immediate future and in the long term.”

In the short term, ETS will offer 50,000 paper based tests in five administrations in Korea through the reminder of this year.  Six administrations have been added to the current 39 planned administrations of the iBT, for a total of 45 administrations this year.  

The number of available iBT test slots on those administrations will also be increased by pursuing a mixed-site testing model, incorporating test centers at 4-year and 2-year universities, Prometric IT partners and other ETS-certified testing centers.  This will provide at least 20,000 additional opportunities to take the iBT in 2007. 

ETS confirmed that universities around the world continue to accept all three formats of TOEFL – Paper, Computer and Internet-based.

The move to a mixed-model is part of a larger initiative to provide additional test centers outside the 4-year universities that have traditionally provided this service.

ETS is also revising the way it both provides test opportunities in Korea and communicates the availability of those opportunities to Korean test-takers.  Currently, seats are opened for the test as soon as they become available.  ETS is pursuing a plan to launch a Korean language page on the website to facilitate communication with Korean test takers and to open seats only when blocks of at least 2,500 become available.  A minimum of 72 hours notice will be provided on the Korean website of the date and time those seats will open.  The website will also be syndicated, so that users can monitor updates to the site without visiting the page.

In the long term, ETS will host a server in Korea dedicated to handling Korean applications.  ETS also announced the imminent establishment of a representative office in Korea to provide a voice in Korea and help the company better understands the needs of Korean test-takers.

The mixed-site model will also continue to add capacity for Korea in the long term.

“The mixed-use model, comprising educational and non-educational testing sites, is one that ETS uses successfully in many countries around the world,” said Mr Ramsey.  “We have not implemented it in Korea previously in the hope that TOEFL, due to its academic nature, could be offered exclusively in universities.  However, both ETS and the larger education community recognize that demand has outpaced our ability to provide testing opportunities.  This new system will help us meet that demand and provide the level of access to the TOEFL that Korean test-takers deserve.”

About ETS

ETS is a nonprofit institution with the mission to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. In serving individuals, educational institutions and government agencies around the world, ETS customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments, research-based teaching and learning tools, and school improvement consulting and support. Founded in 1947, ETS today develops, administers and scores more than 24 million tests annually, in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

About the TOEFL iBT

The TOEFL iBT sets a new standard for measuring communicative English skills by simulating actual university situations. Backed by ten years of research, development and testing, TOEFL? iBT redefines the way English is learned and measured. It is the first large-scale, Internet-delivered English-proficiency assessment to measure test takers' ability to integrate and use all four language skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. The new test also sets the standard for providing fair, unbiased and objective scoring, building on ETS's record and reputation as the world leader in all facets of educational assessment. More than 6,000 colleges and universities in 110 countries rely on TOEFL test scores to measure the English-language skills of their students.