Officially closing on January 25, 2024 at an undisclosed deal amount, the acquisition is said to create “a robust end-to-end suite of products and services” in workforce skills testing and development. ETS and PSI say they jointly deliver nearly 50 million tests annually across more than 200 countries around the world to serve governments, institutions, and industry.
Educational Testing Service (ETS), the US-based organization behind the TOEFL and GRE tests, has acquired workforce and adult testing and certification company PSI.
Officially closing on January 25, 2024 at an undisclosed deal amount, the acquisition is said to create “a robust end-to-end suite of products and services” in workforce skills testing and development. ETS and PSI say they jointly deliver nearly 50 million tests annually across more than 200 countries around the world to serve governments, institutions, and industry.
The two organizations will “drive the progress of educational and workforce skills assessment” through technology and research and development, citing “the critical need” for employers, credentialing bodies, and governments around the world to upskill their people for the future of work, according to a press release.
“This is an important milestone for ETS as we forge ahead into the workforce development space to become the trusted source to measure, certify and license skills and demonstrate progress,” said Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS.
Janet Garcia, CEO of PSI, dubbed the development “hugely exciting” for PSI employees, customers, and partners. PSI says it partners with its clients to deliver over 22 million tests every year.
Garcia will stay in her current role as CEO and there is no impact to PSI staff as a result of the acquisition, ETS told MSM Reporter.
PSI’s market leadership in workforce certification complements ETS’s existing strengths in educational measurement, with the latter aiming to leverage its “organizational strength and stability” for positive impact across learning, professional development, and education, ETS added.
ETS is a founding member of the US for Success Coalition (USSC), a coalition of organizations from education, think tanks, and advocacy sectors seeking to reposition the United States as the foremost destination for international students.
“We’re losing the race for international talent in the United States,” Sevak said in an interview with MSM Reporter. “Our organizations cut across education, think tanks, and advocacy to ensure we’re thinking holistically about our approach to how we best serve international students here in the US.”
On the work and employability front, one of the USSC’s goals is to facilitate immigration pathways for international students, Sevak said, adding it involves employment-based visas and immigration for F-1 international students who are seeking to launch careers in the US after graduation and are recruited by US companies, as well as protecting experiential learning programs that give students work experience.
In December 2023, ETS India partnered with Bengaluru-based SaaS company Digii, integrating ETS India’s assessments with Digii’s digital campus platform Digiicampus to impact the study abroad application process for higher education institutions.
