Admissions testing giants agree merger

One of the world’s biggest testing services has acquired one of its main rivals as universities continue to re-evaluate how to assess students’ readiness for higher education.

ACT is set to become part of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) under the deal announced on 30 June, combining the two firms’ roster of assessments, including university admissions exams.

The takeover will help ETS strengthen and connect its presence across all 50 American states, said ETS chief executive Amit Sevak, who told Times Higher Education (THE) that ACT “brings a variety of state partnerships” to the table.

“By ETS, which does tens of millions of tests, and ACT coming in with their 5 million tests, we are able to really serve more students across the country,” he said.

ETS is known for providing services including the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the GRE, an assessment used for admission to advanced and graduate school programmes in the US.

Meanwhile, ACT is known for its undergraduate college entry tests for high school students. ETS used to administer its rival, the SAT, which is now delivered by the College Board.

The ACT has experienced a dip in popularity in recent years. According to reporting by the Washington Post earlier this year, roughly 47 per cent of US students who graduated high school in 2025 took the SAT, compared with 36 per cent who took the ACT.

The company has also undergone a recent change in leadership, with chief executive Steve Tapp taking over from Janet Godwin, who was in post for five years, in October last year. Godwin remains an adviser to the ACT board.

Meanwhile, ETS has also been subject to a change in appetite for its GRE provision, with many graduate programmes becoming “test-optional” or “test-flexible”, adopting a less stringent approach to standardised testing requirements. The company has conducted a number of layoffs since 2020, with more than 700 workers losing their jobs at the end of last year.

The company hailed its acquisition of ACT as uniting two operations with a “common purpose”.

“This move combines the strengths of two mission-driven measurement organizations to address the significant challenges facing American education,” according to the announcement.

Apart from tests for high school students and higher education applicants, ACT also runs workforce readiness assessments for jobseekers and employers alike. ETS has been developing its credentials offer.

ACT’s Tapp said: “Joining ETS gives us the platform to fulfil our mission at a scale we couldn’t reach alone.”

Sevak said both organisations were committed to making sure their tests can make “the invisible skills that students have become more visible”.

“We really believe, with our heart of hearts, that every child in America right now really needs a good quality education, needs a fair shot at a good college, and needs a pathway to a good job. And so, good schools, good colleges, good jobs… that’s really what this is all about,” Sevak said.

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com