The General Community Quarantine did not stop the British Council in the Philippines from honouring and celebrating their IELTS partners for their support in the delivery of IELTS to test takers last year.
Among those recognised during the virtual IELTS Partner Awards Ceremony held on 21 December 2020 were review centres, language centres, recruitment firms, education agencies and visa and immigration consultancies. These are partners who have been working with the British Council to provide the best IELTS experience to candidates and help them achieve their target scores.
Resilience and innovation
The awarding ceremony recognised the contribution and resilience of the British Council’s IELTS partners in the country amid the pandemic. These institutions quickly adapted and moved to digital – offering online coaching as well as creating their own YouTube channels.
‘Covid-19 has perhaps been the greatest disruptor of our times. But with great disruption comes also transformation, innovation and resilience. We have all had to adapt to different ways and like our partners, we have adopted new approaches to our work and new models of delivery, through online and digital media,’ Pilar Aramayo-Prudencio, British Council in the Philippines Country Director, said.
Top 10 national partners
CEVAS Philippines – a language and review centre with branches around the country – received the National Partner of the Year Award as top endorser of the British Council. CEVAS also emerged as the top-ranking partner for the regions of NCR, South Luzon and Mindanao.
'We want to thank the British Council for their unwavering support to CEVAS and for making us the leading and most awarded IELTS agent in the country. They are a big part of our triumph as an institution... We look forward to our partnership…' said Carl Evasco, CEVAS President.
The second to fourth top performing centres ranked the highest for their respective regions as well. They are SMEAG Global Education Inc. (Visayas), 9.0 Niner IELTS Review & Tutorial Center (North Luzon), and De Jesus-Beltran and Co. World English Inc. (Central Luzon).
Listed by their ranking, J. Rooz Review Center, Inc., ELA - English Academy, Protech Review Center, Pines International Academy, ScoreHigh English Proficiency Centre and EPro Training Centre complete the Top 10 National Partner Awardees.
‘I want to thank our partners for their patience and commitment at all times but especially during 2020,’ Aramayo-Prudencio continued.
Onward and upward
2020 saw the British Council’s swift introduction of IELTS Indicator as a temporary online alternative to IELTS when physical exams were not allowed. They also initiated other innovations last year including video-call speaking test, IELTS teacher training and preparation webinars with the partners, and having the results for computer-delivered IELTS available in three to five days.
‘We continue to expand gradually on what we do and where we do it. We are deliberately taking a gradual approach because throughout, our priority has always been and will always be the health and safety of everyone involved, our staff, partners and test takers,’ Kishore Roy, British Council Regional Exams Manager for Southeast Asia concluded.
As the industry recovers, test takers and partners can look forward to new innovations including additional test locations and more test preparation resources to help test takers get the best possible score.