The test centre will open in partnership with Britannia Educational Services, a leading British-Iraqi language training provider, which has invested in developing a high-security PTE Academic test centre. By delivering PTE Academic to students from across the region, Pearson and Britannia will work together to support Iraqi students preparing for study in the UK, US, and Australia to achieve their higher-education goals.

Rasheda Zaher-Draey, joint founder of Britannia Educational Services, comments, "We are proud to engage in this partnership with Pearson, as it is the world's largest learning company and has a reputation for excellence in the academic world. We believe that the opening of the test centre to deliver PTE Academic will be key to supporting young people applying for scholarships under Kurdistan's Human Capacity Development Program in Higher Education (HCDP)."

"This scholarship programme supports thousands of young Iraqi men and women in continuing their education abroad. By delivering PTE Academic, we can support these students with a secure and fast English language test so that they can apply for visas and programs at universities to gain access to valuable opportunities to help them have a better future."

Emma Stubbs, Senior Vice President of Pearson's Language Testing division says, "This is a really exciting development for PTE Academic. We are delighted to be working with Britannia Educational Services. The opening of this new test centre supports our objective of providing the PTE Academic test whenever and wherever it is required, so extending our secure English language testing services to institutions and students in Iraq is an exciting milestone for us."