Faisal Al-Mubarak, the provost and chief academic officer of Alfaisal University, left, at the signing ceremony.

The Riyadh-based Alfaisal University (AU) has inked here recently a strategic partnership with the Australia-based International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to become the official IELTS testing center in the region.

In a statement, Faisal Al- Mubarak, AU provost and chief academic officer (CAO), said the aim of the deal is to support all students who wish to complete their studies in local and international universities as part of the framework of its ambitious plan in cooperation with international bodies.

He said the AU has IELTS as one of the requirements for admission to programs and courses that require English language proficiency. The university has made significant efforts to attract global experiences including IELTS.

According to him, many of those who took the IELTS exams at AU acknowledged the level of professionalism and the state-of-the-art examination hall which helped attract over 2,000 test takers in the last few months.

The representatives of IELTS Australia in the Middle East, namely Maher El-Bakry, regional director, Darren Vardon, director of development and operations, and Sabry Shehata, IELTS general manager, Saudi Arabia, visited the university for preparations to run the IELTS examinations.

IELTS is a standardized test with key assessment skill components of the English language that include speaking, listening, reading and writing. IELTS is recognized by 9,000 educational and governmental institutions to assess English language proficiency. IELTS is jointly owned by IDP IELTS Australia and the British Council in addition to the University of Cambridge, and these institutions are known for their commitment to academic standards and a deep understanding of the students’ cultures around the world. The latest statistics indicate that the number of test takers of IELTS last year was approximately 2 million.