A university in the Mekong Delta has become an official exam center for the English assessment arm of the UK’s University of Cambridge.

Cambridge ESOL has fully approved Tra Vinh University (TVU), located in Tra Vinh Province, as its exam center, the Vietnamese school said in a recent press release. 

"We went through a rigorous approval process to achieve our University of Cambridge ESOL Examination Centre status,” Dr Nguyen Thi Phuong Nam, head of the university’s Department of Foreign Languages, was quoted as saying in the press release.

The institution is now authorized to run ESOL preparation classes and examinations for all candidates, according to Dr Pham Tiet Khanh, rector of Tra Vinh University.

It will thus receive support from Cambridge ESOL – a provider of examinations in English language ability for non-native speakers of English and English teaching qualifications – in a number of ways, including having access to Cambridge ESOL publications, exam instruction booklets, handbooks, and training materials.

TVU is going to offer a wide range of examination courses for students of all ages and abilities, namely the Key English Test (KET), the Preliminary English Test (PET), First Certificate in English (FCE), and the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE).

It also runs programs ranging from nationally recognized vocational qualifications to graduate degree levels, in addition to the school's partnerships with Canada’s Vancouver Island and the Philippines’ Southern Leyte University.

More than 20,000 students are currently enrolled in TVU’s eleven departments.

Cambridge ESOL is a department of the 800-year-old University of Cambridge. Its examinations are among the world’s most reliable English qualifications.