Pearson wins GMAT Contract

Pearson PLC 11 December 2003 11 December 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Pearson wins $200 million GMAT contract Pearson, the international media and education company, today announced that it has been selected as the prime contractor for a seven-year, $200 million contract to develop and administer the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) exam worldwide. Beginning in January 2006, the GMAT exam will be available at more than 400 Pearson VUE test centres in 96 countries. As part of the agreement with the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), Pearson VUE will expand its network of test centres to include more locations in major markets throughout the world. The GMAC is a not-for-profit educational association composed of leading business schools from around the world committed to creating access to graduate business education. Currently used or required by more than 1,700 graduate business programs for admission, the GMAT exam is the most widely used assessment - and most reliable predictor - of a candidate's ability to succeed academically in graduate business studies. Approximately 230,000 GMAT exams are taken each year. "GMAC's faith in us is a great compliment," said Bob Whelan, vice president and general manager of Pearson VUE. "We're very pleased to have been selected to deliver this prestigious exam. The consistency and control offered by our testing network is tailor-made for the needs of organizations involved in admissions and qualifications testing." "The GMAT will remain the international gold-standard assessment tool for management education," said David A. Wilson, president and CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council. "This partnership will allow us to better serve the graduate management education community in the future by increasing global reach, advancing security measures, and providing flexible access to test information." Ends For further information: Luke Swanson/ Charlotte Elston + 44 (0) 20 7010 2311 About Pearson VUE Pearson VUE (www.pearsonvue.com) is the electronic testing business of Pearson Education, the world's leading education company. Its customers include global technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and Sun Microsystems as well as the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) of Great Britain and the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency (DVTA) of Northern Ireland. Pearson also provides educational testing services for more than 20 US states and the US Department of Education and is one of the major academic and vocational testing organizations in the UK through a partnership with Edexcel, a leading examinations board. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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