One of the world’s biggest testing services has acquired one of its main rivals as universities continue to re-evaluate how to assess students’ readiness for higher education.
ACT is set to become part of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) under the deal announced on 30 June, combining the two firms’ roster of assessments, including university admissions exams.
The takeover will help ETS strengthen and connect its presence across all 50 American states, said ETS chief executive Amit Sevak, who told Times Higher Education (THE) that ACT “brings a variety of state partnerships” to the table.
“By ETS, which does tens of millions of tests, and ACT coming in with their 5 million tests, we are able to really serve more students across the country,” he said.
ETS is known for providing services including the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the GRE, an assessment used for admission to advanced and graduate school programmes in the US.
