Duolingo English Test expands Indian market amidst rising demand for online language tests

Tara Kapur, India marketing head, Duolingo English Test, talks about mobile accessibility, being at par with IELTS and TOEFL, and more.

The demand for online English-language tests witnessed a significant surge during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the traditional method of taking exams at test centres became unavailable. Established globally in 2016, Duolingo English Test (DET) is an internet-first English language test platform that offers customised exams for students intending to study abroad.

Tara Kapur, India marketing head, Duolingo English Test, shares that being a digitally born platform with a deep understanding of the role of AI and technology, the company comprehends the implications for the education sector. Consequently, the test is deemed secure and precise.

“It became a very good use case for universities because of the accuracy and we also provided them with a diverse pool of students from across the world. Even though this came to fruition during the pandemic, we still see steady growth for the product in the market. DET is accepted by over 4,500 universities across the world. So, we are at par with IELTS and TOEFL in the US in terms of the number of colleges that accept us and the highest volume of students have been coming from India and then China,” she states.

According to a report from The Indian Express, India has emerged as the primary market for DET, experiencing over 20% growth in the previous year (2022). This growth is attributed to the rising significance of studying abroad in India, driven by the increased middle-income class.

Kapur mentions that because DET showed robust growth in India in 2022, it made sense to have localised themes that used marketing to accelerate growth. “Our primary focus right now is to increase brand awareness both from B2C and B2B channels,” she adds.

Increasing user engagement and adoption in India

To increase engagement among users, DET has conducted various offline activities at colleges in key tier-1 and tier-2 cities of India. Kapur observes that cities like Poona and Kochi are interesting markets for the company and the team is also going beyond educational institutions as they work on B2B strategies.

“Agents and counsellors play an essential role in helping candidates study abroad. About 60% of Indian students use an agent to pursue higher studies. We want to make sure we have strong partnerships with them because ultimately, it is about the recommendation. We ensure that there is enough content out there in the market so that information about our product effectively reaches our audience. Previously, practice test was not available on smartphones. So now, we have added a mobile phone version of the practice test,” she explains.

In contrast to test platforms like IELTS, which have designated offline test centres and specific schedules for exams, Kapur says DET is more flexible as test-takers can take their exam from anywhere and at any point in time. “I have spoken to a bunch of students who say they like to take tests late at night as it is quiet and they usually study at that time. After the test is done, the candidate gets their result much sooner (within two days). Therefore, the duration of both test and result and the flexibility is what drives candidates to take up DET,” she highlights.

2023 in a nutshell and expansion plans

Talking about the year 2023 so far and the path ahead, Kapur states, “We are approaching the end of 2023 and are close to touching 5,000 universities. So we have a steady growth from year to year. Our focus, as of now, is on acceptance. We are pretty much universally accepted in the US and now are working to get accepted in the rest of the world. My goal, from a marketing perspective, is to focus on students who want to study in the US and there is a very large volume of the same.”

She adds that the platform is opening up access for diverse schools of students to universities across the world. “2023 was also the year where we debuted our access programs. There were 25 refugee students from around the world who got placed in very sizable universities across the world primarily in the US. We are also growing our team significantly in the country therefore, these are the positive signals for us being very dedicated to the Indian market,” she asserts.