Our history
ETS Global B.V.
ETS was founded in 1947 when the American Council on Education, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the College Entrance Examination Board contributed their testing programmes, assets and a number of key employees to form an independent non-profit organisation under the leadership of Henry Chauncey.
The story of ETS begins 70 years ago and lives on today through our mission
In creating ETS, the founders brought to life a concept proposed a decade earlier by Harvard University President James Conant. Conant's belief was that a single organisation devoted to educational research and assessment could make fundamental contributions to the progress of education in the United States.
In 2001 ETS Global B.V. was established to promote ETS tests, build and strengthen relations with educational and assessment leaders in Europe and to offer customised assessments. A few years later ETS Global B.V.’s scope widened to make the TOEIC® programme available in more than 90 countries around the world and in building a network of offices and partners to support test takers and test users locally.
Today ETS Global B.V. is active in offering a variety of English language assessments and tools that support English language learning. It also continues to perform its outreach and client relationship functions such as towards higher education and towards governments. Finally, it continues to function as a bridge between the countries in which it is active and all ETS’s assessment expertise true to the mission to advance quality and equity in education worldwide.
ETS’s accomplishment
In the years since 1947, ETS has expanded beyond the frontiers of its parent country to enhance the quality of education available to people in various corners of the world. Highlights include the launch of the TOEFL® test in the 1960’s and the TOEIC® test in the 1970’s. ETS introduced computer-based testing in the 1990’s and internet-based testing in the first decade of the 21st century. Continuously ETS researchers are at the forefront of foundational research in the field of assessment and educational measurement.