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Pearson launches Beyond PTE at Southeast Asia Partner Summit

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New insights reveal more than half of test takers in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea pursue Pearson Test of English for work and migration opportunities.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Pearson (PSON), the world’s leading learning company, today released insights from Pearson Test of English (PTE) candidates across Southeast Asia for 2024. The data reveals a younger demographic with ambitions to work and study around the globe.

This announcement comes on the heels of the successful 2024 Asia PTE Partner Summit, a gathering of more than 400 international education professionals simultaneously hosted in Changsa, China, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Manila, Philippines, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam and virtually across other Southeast Asia countries, South Korea and Japan.

At the summit Pearson launched a new test taker service, Beyond PTE, and gathered education officials from embassies and consulates and institutions as well as training providers to discuss the latest trends in international education and presented the annual report card for PTE.

Guests and speakers at the Summit included the Hon Phil Honeywood, CEO, International Education Association of Australia, Guy Perring, Regional Director, Etio (formerly Tribal i-graduate), Danielle Zhou, Business Development Manager, Austrade, Wu Xinping, Education Market Manager, British Council, and Felix Ye, Senior Market Development Manager, Education New Zealand.

Beyond PTE Launch

The Beyond PTE program launched in collaboration with Trip.com, Malaysia Airlines and Casita.com. This new service is designed to provide a barrier-free, one-stop solution for PTE candidates, through integration with the right financial, legal and travel service providers, each one of them offering additional benefits for PTE test takers.

Beyond PTE offers include:

Trip.com – Flight discount up to MYR40 or SGD15, 20% UK railcard off, up to GBP7, 5 % OFF UK & EU train and bus ticketMalaysia Airlines – Join MH Explorer program to access up to 30% flight discount and free baggage up to 45kgCasita.com – Student accommodation cashback up to GBP150/AUD250/USD200 for PTE test takers

PTE Director Asia, Matthew Lampkin said: “By launching the Beyond PTE cooperation program, we aim to provide multi-dimensional services and all-round support for candidates studying abroad. Pearson is committed to meeting growing demand, with new centres opened this year in key locations, such as Hanoi, Vietnam, Jakarta, Indonesia and Vientiane, Laos providing greater access and convenience for our test takers.”

New Insights from 2024 Testing

The lates insights from the millions of PTE tests taken around the world in 20204 were also released at the Summit including:

Demographics Comparison:Gender Distribution: Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea: Female (59.6%), Male (40.4%); Global: Female (50.1%), Male (49.9%)Higher female participation in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea is encouraging in the region, compared to the near-equal global gender split.Average Age: Both regions show a broad age involvement from 16 to 73 years, demonstrating comprehensive demographic coverage for English proficiency.Nationalities: Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea: 89 nationalities (leading nationality: Filipino); Global: 180 nationalities (leading nationality: Indian)This reflects the regional diversity while highlighting different leading nationalities.First Languages: Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea: PTE test takers spoke 90 different first languages, with the most common being Tagalog; Global: Most common first language is Mandarin.Testing Locations Comparison The top five testing locations in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea include key cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Makati City, Seoul, and Singapore underscoring PTE’s broad geographical reach.Purpose and DestinationsPurpose for Taking PTE: Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea: Work/Migration (52.5%), Study (31.4%); Global: Similar distribution, focusing on work, migration, and study applications.Top Destinations: Both regions show a high preference for Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, reflecting consistent global aspirations.Levels and Programs of StudyLevels of Study:The top two levels of study in the region are: Undergraduate degree (32.8%), and Postgraduate/Master’s degree (24.8%)Programs of Study:The top three study areas for the region are: Business and Management (18.2%), Health (17.6%), Tourism and Hospitality Management (11.6%)Occupational InterestsTop Occupations: Health and Social Services (29.8%), Technical and Scientific (7.7%), and globally the top occupations are: construction, education, banking, and finance globally.Information ChannelsPrimary Sources of Information: Friend or family (29.4%), Internet search (19.7%) and Australian Department of Home Affairs (13.6%), Friend or Family being top primary source of information underlying the strong word of mouth and willingness to recommend among PTE test takers.

About PTE

PTE is committed to providing fast, reliable, and accurate English language testing. With over 500 test centers in 118 countries, PTE supports educational, migration, and professional ambitions worldwide. By combining human expertise with advanced AI, PTE offers a fair and highly accurate English language test, recognized by governments, organizations, and universities globally. The test is available for all visa types in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and is recognized by over 3,500 universities worldwide. In 2024, PTE achieved significant global success, including launching PTE Core for Canadian visa applications and gaining recognition in the Netherlands and the US. Over 2,000 US universities now recognize PTE, including Princeton University and MIT.

About Pearson

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to add life to a lifetime of learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. That is why our over 20,000 Pearson employees are committed to creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are the world’s leading learning company, serving customers in nearly 200 countries with digital content, assessments, qualifications, and data. For us, learning is not just what we do. It’s who we are. Visit us at pearsonplc.com. 

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SOURCE Pearson

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Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

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SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-sincerely-accepts-administrative-penalty-decision-issued-by-the-state-administration-for-market-regulation-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-302834599.html

SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

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NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.” 

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naver-partners-with-brookfield-and-nvidia-to-expand-koreas-national-ai-factory-infrastructure-buildout-302834577.html

SOURCE NAVER

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Beijing Review: Walking Through Time: China and U.S. Youths Explore Dali’s Past and Future

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BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On July 17, a China-U.S. youth delegation came to Dali of Yunnan Province. By examining how Dali’s rich history intersects with modern development, the delegates explored new pathways for rural development.

They visited Dali Old Town, tried their hand at making the Bai people’s Three-Course Tea and also explored the ancient town of Xizhou, where they learned how modern tourism and indigenous life coexist.

In Yunnanyi Village, they explored its history as a stop along the Tea Horse Road and learned about the role it played during the Second World War (WWII).

Tyler James Smith

“I think it’s a very underappreciated part of World War II history. Hearing these stories of different countries working together despite cultural differences is incredibly inspiring.

I also think there are many stories like these that haven’t been widely told, simply because World War II is such a complex period in history. That’s why I think it’s so meaningful to visit museums like this and experience these stories firsthand.”

At Xiangyun Economic and Technological Development Zone, they visited a local new energy company to see how green, low-carbon development is driving regional growth.

Valerie Marie

“I recently started studying energy transitions. I know China has been really big in the renewable energy sector. So actually getting to hear more about [China’s] 2060 [pledge], learning more about carbon neutrality [goals], as well as other zero-carbon goals, was cool.”

During their stay in Dali, they also strolled along the Erhai Lake Ecological Corridor.

Bai Yiwen

“I’d describe this journey as “to be continued,” because my own connection with Yunnan is far from over. For the U.S. delegates, this was only their first visit, so they’ve only had a glimpse of what Yunnan has to offer. I hope they will have more opportunities to come back to China, explore other cities in Yunnan, and discover even more of its people, culture and traditions.”

After Dali, the delegates will visit Beijing for more tours and exchanges. The event was co-hosted by China International Communications Group (CICG) Center for the Americas and the U.S.-based International Student Conferences.

https://x.com/beijingreview/status/2080104404552663067?s=46&t=yfVMVdMyE2zKAFrYaLoV-g

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EtGCCKzy4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.tiktok.com/@cachinachic/video/7665536913532587294?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7227134149436605995

https://youtu.be/jGONWTqwduc?is=KfL-Zn3HyVYE-KEm

Contact: Jiaweibellapeng@163.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beijing-review-walking-through-time-china-and-us-youths-explore-dalis-past-and-future-302834587.html

SOURCE Beijing Review

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