ETS, the Princeton-based educational services company, has established a Japanese unit, it announced Tuesday.
The company said in a news release that it has acquired the Test of English as a Foreign Language — or TOEFL — assets of the Council on International Educational Exchange-Japan, a nonprofit that served as the country master distributor for the test in Japan.
A newly established subsidiary, ETS Japan, will now handle the tests and support services. Nemoto Hitoshi, formerly of CIEE-Japan, will lead ETS Japan as country manager.
“Our establishment of ETS Japan further underscores ETS’ commitment to the Japanese market, and our continued support of language learners in the country working to improve their English-language proficiency skills,” Mohammad Kousha, ETS associate vice president, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to continuing to deliver the high-quality, valid assessment and learning solutions we are known for through ETS Japan.”
CIEE has worked with students for more than 70 years, and has had a Japanese office for the past 40.
“We are excited to join ETS and continue our work in providing Japanese learners access to the portfolio of TOEFL assessment products,” Hitoshi said in a statement. “Our work now as ETS Japan will continue seamlessly for our more than 500 clients and hundreds of thousands of students.”
