Cambridge Assessment English to improve students' English skills

In her first official trip to the country, Woodward described learning English as a journey and praised the motivation of Vietnamese students.

“We’re seeing really impressive levels of motivation from English language learners in Vietnam and this is supported by the long-term thinking from the Ministry of Education and Training and the regional Departments of Education and Training. Learning a language is a journey, which takes skills and motivation to succeed and English learning in Vietnam is improving all of the time,” said Woodward.

She also said, “We work with education specialists all over the world but what has always struck us about Vietnam is the enthusiasm and energy that is helping to make the country a huge success with phenomenal economic growth. When you take this sheer energy into account it’s no surprise that we’re seeing huge growth in the number of people taking Cambridge English Qualifications in Vietnam. I’m sure all of the hard work from Vietnamese schools and students will mean the next generation of people entering the workplace will have high levels of English language skills and they will go on to make a huge impact on a global scale.”

Cambridge Assessment English has been offering Cambridge English Qualifications in Vietnam since 2006. They include qualifications for schools, general and higher education, and business. The schools' exams are popular in Vietnam and they offer thousands of students every year a structured way to improve their English.

Woodward also said that English language skills for the workplace remain a global challenge and a "big issue".

"Research has shown that having the right levels of English language skills is still high on the agendas of companies all over the world. This is a big issue, and at Cambridge, we’re looking at new ways of helping HR managers overcome these challenges. We’ve recently launched the Linguaskill test that uses Artificial Intelligence and auto-marking to measure English skills for the workplace."

Since Cambridge English Qualifications were launched in Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of school students have benefitted from the qualifications. Cambridge Assessment English also work on high profile projects with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training. Projects have included teacher training and a study to help set benchmarks of the English language as part of a long-term initiative to improve Vietnam’s competitiveness.

Cambridge Assessment English has conducted an Impact Study in 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City to measure the impact of the Cambridge Young Learners English programme on the teaching and learning of English at primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City after 5 years of implementation – the findings were very positive and showed clear progress of students’ English capacity, especially in communication skills.

In January this year, Cambridge Assessment English has signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the National Foreign Language Project under the Ministry of Education and Training to enhance the quality of teaching and learning of English language and subjects thought in English.