Why did Australia's ACET English center chain close after more than 20 years?

ACET will officially cease operations in Vietnam from the end of this year.

Recently, ACET foreign language center under IDP Education Vietnam Company Limited (IDP) announced that it will completely cease operations in Vietnam on December 31, 2024, officially ending its journey of more than 20 years of teaching English to Vietnamese people. The chain added that all students at the centers will be supported to complete their current courses.

Regarding the teaching staff, speaking to Thanh Nien tonight (September 27), an IDP representative said the company is supporting all ACET colleagues during this shutdown through job search services or helping with new positions. "We thank the students, teachers, alumni and staff at ACET Vietnam for being an important part of ACET's historic journey," this person confided.

According to IDP representative, the decision to close the ACET chain was made by this company in the context of a decrease in the number of students while operating costs are increasing day by day. Not to mention, the situation of the English teaching market and customer needs in Vietnam are also changing compared to before. Therefore, IDP's strategy in the Vietnamese market in the coming time will focus on supporting students to study abroad and prepare for the IELTS exam.

"IDP's IELTS test organization and study abroad consulting activities are still operating normally and are not affected by this announcement," an IDP representative emphasized. It is known that IDP Vietnam is a part of IDP Education - an international education organization headquartered in Australia and specializing in providing English teaching services, study abroad consulting, as well as co-owning and organizing IELTS exams globally.

Before closing, ACET had 4 centers in operation. In Ho Chi Minh City, the facilities are located at 187 Vo Thi Sau, Ward 7, District 3 and 226 Le Van Sy, Ward 1, Tan Binh District. In Hanoi, the centers are located at Ocean Park building and 15-17 Ngoc Khanh, Giang Vo, Ba Dinh. Despite closing the English centers at 4 locations, IDP also noted that study abroad consulting and IELTS testing activities are still taking place normally at the Le Van Sy and Ngoc Khanh facilities.

ACET, also known as the Australian English Training Center, currently offers courses specializing in academic English and IELTS preparation. On its homepage, this unit introduces itself as a pioneer, owning a team of teachers considered the best in the field of English teaching in Vietnam when recruited according to international standards and having 80% of students achieving IELTS 6.0 or higher.

In addition to IDP, another co-owner of the IELTS exam, the British Council, is also currently operating a chain of English centers of the same name in Vietnam, with 6 facilities in Ho Chi Minh City and 3 facilities in Hanoi. Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are more than 1,000 foreign language and IT centers, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training. This partly shows that the English teaching and certificate exam preparation market is becoming increasingly competitive.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chuoi-trung-tam-anh-ngu-acet-cua-uc-dong-cua-sau-hon-20-nam-vi-sao-185240927211439233.htm