KUALA LUMPUR: Pearson Vue, a computer-based certification and licensure exam delivery provider, sees Malaysia as an important market for expansion due to its status as the “beating heart of Southeast Asia”.
Pearson Vue vice-president for Australia and Southeast Asia, Craig McFarlane said the country’s vibrant economy, rapid development and strong knowledge and talent base make it an attractive investment destination.
“We want to be more involved in Malaysia as a market and Southeast Asia as a whole. We see that Malaysia is a hugely important part of our Southeast Asian expansion,” he told SunBiz in an interview.
McFarlane said Pearson Vue is actively engaged in partnerships and collaborations with stakeholders including assessment owners, certification bodies, regulatory authorities and government agencies in Malaysia.
“We also see that there’s a huge opportunity here to work with exam sponsors as there’s more localised certifications becoming present and helping the economy as a whole to grow and to develop,” he shared.
Pearson VUE earlier this month launched a Pearson Professional Centre (PPC) in Malaysia, offering “gold-standard” testing facilities to address the growing demand for secure certification examinations in the country.
In Southeast Asia, Pearson currently has PPCs in Singapore, the Philippines and now Kuala Lumpur.
McFarlane said these centres are the most secure testing facilities, used for high-stakes examinations that require “stringent security measures”.
“For individuals in Indonesia needing to take such exams, they would need to travel to Kuala Lumpur because there isn’t a PPC in Indonesia. Similarly, people in Malaysia previously had to travel to Singapore or other locations to take these exams before the Kuala Lumpur centre opened,” he said.
The PPC provides security measures such as identity management/checks (including palm vein recognition technology), signature pads, camera coverage in the entire facility, proctors with a direct line of sight and camera view and lockers for test-takers.
