CHENNAI: ELS International Education, an institution specialising in English language testing and offering professional counselling for students going to universities in the US, Canada and Australia, has opened its first direct counselling centre in Chennai. The institution, which claims to have served over a one million students in the past 50 years, has a clientele of 650 universities in the United States including the Middle Tennessee State University, Northern Illinois University and Princeton University. The ELS system is similar to GRE, TOEFL and IELTS in testing the student’s language capabilities before joining a US university. But, the procedure is different from other English language testing examinations, according to Mallik R Sundharam, Managing Director of ELS India. “Once a student gains admission to a foreign university, he can attend ELS coaching classes directly in the campus before the courses begin. Following the classes, an examination will be conducted and a certificate will be issued making them eligible to attend the University,” he said. He added, “This is a coaching-cum-testing system where students will get a first-hand exposure. The cultural exchange will make them more proficient.” Students should finish one level each month up to 12 levels before taking the examination. “Students from India need not take the course from scratch due to the English medium of education. They can start from level 8 to 10 depending on their quality of language,” he said. ELS is planning to open counselling centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad as well. “ELS is the largest recruiter of international students for the US and Canada and provides information and counselling to students. With Indians being the second largest community of overseas students in the US, no education provider can continue to ignore the potential of India,” Mallik said. According to their statistics, 250 million people in the age group of 15 to 30, which is 25 percent of the total population, study abroad. “There is a high value for education and especially, education acquired abroad. Though the fee is high, the rise in spending power of the people enables them to apply and study any course of their choice.” ELS Certification, together with TOEFL and IELTS, is one of the three most-accepted standards for proof of English proficiency used by the US colleges and universities for international student admissions, claims the institution.
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