The unveiling ceremony of a computer-delivered IELTS test center was held on Dec 15 at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Northwest China.

The unveiling ceremony is held on Dec 15.  

In January, the Examination Center of the Ministry of Education officially approved the creation of an IELTS test center at Northwestern Polytechnical University, thus making Xi'an the first city in Northwest China - and only the 11th in China - to open to IELTS testing.  

The computer-delivered examination center is located at the Continuing Education College, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and is equipped with a full-time professional examination team. The start-up and operation of this IELTS computer-delivered test center will provide high-quality and standard IELTS test services for candidates in Shaanxi and Northwest China.  

The center's full-time professional examination team attend the opening ceremony.  

Steve Adams, business director of East Asia Examinations at the British Council of Culture and Education, said at the opening ceremony that since the outbreak of the epidemic this year, the British Council of Culture and Education has been exploring and innovating products and services and expanding more new partnerships.

With the completion of the IELTS test center at Northwestern Polytechnical University, the ability of IELTS to serve the vast number of candidates in Northwest China will be further improved, and cultural exchanges between China and the UK will be promoted, Mr Adams added.  

The British official said that in 2018, the British Council of Culture and Education officially launched the IELTS computer-delivered test in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing, operating in parallel with the paper and pencil model.  

The computer-delivered test retains the security, effectiveness and rigor of IELTS, and is completely consistent with the paper and pencil model in terms of test content, scoring standard, difficulty level, test question type and test security settings.