Manan Gupta
NEW DELHI: The Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) will now be accepted for use in Canada’s Student Direct Stream (SDS), an expedited study permit processing programme for international students who plan to enrol in one of nation’s post-secondary designated learning institutions, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS).
The test has been approved by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). So far, IELTS was the only English-language testing option which was authorised for the SDS route.
“Not only will the addition of TOEFL benefit the hundreds of thousands of students who take advantage of the SDS route every year, but institutions can feel confident knowing that they can access a wider pool of applicants who can demonstrate their skills with the premier test of English-language proficiency,” said Rohit Sharma, Senior Vice President of Global Higher Education and Workskills at ETS.
Students can begin sending TOEFL scores as part of their SDS application beginning August 10.
According to the IRCC, as long as all eligibility requirements are met, most SDS applications are processed within 20 calendar days.
ETS has announced that it will shorten TOEFL iBT test by an hour from July 26. This means the examination will now be conducted for two hours instead of three hours.
TOEFL is welcomed by more than 12,000 institutions in over 160 countries and is universally accepted in popular destinations such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and by over 98 per cent of universities in the UK.