The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training granted permission to IDP Education to immediately resume IELTS testing on Thursday after one week of suspension.

The education ministry’s decision came into effect immediately and will last five years. 

IDP Education is one of two IELTS test organizers in Vietnam.

One week ago, the ministry postponed all IELTS examinations, one of the most popular English certifications in Vietnam, citing quality concerns.

Foreign language proficiency tests for South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese were also halted. 

The decision came as a surprise and caused worry among students and parents, with some planning to travel abroad in order to take the IELTS test. 

The Ministry of Education and Training said the reason for the pause was that test organizers had not completed their dossier as per the regulations.

Earlier this week, IDP Education submitted the required documents to the education ministry for review and processing. 

Upon receiving permission to resume IELTS examinations on Thursday, IDP Education immediately contacted students who had already enrolled to take the test at the organization’s centers in Vietnam to inform them of new arrangements.

The education ministry now allows IDP Education to organize the exams only in Hanoi, Da Nang City, and Ho Chi Minh City, but not in 41 other provinces and cities across the country as before.

Nguyen Thanh Sang, general director of IDP Education in Vietnam, expects the change to affect test takers for the foreseeable future.

“It will take more time to have enough space for all the test takers,” Sang told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday afternoon.

The British Council, the other IELTS test organizer in Vietnam, is still in the Ministry of Education and Training’s review process, according to Dan Tri news outlet.

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