The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP) and Associates in Cultural Exchange (A.C.E.) are pleased to announce a cooperative agreement regarding U.S. based efforts for educational exchange. Beginning from April 2011, A.C.E will handle college outreach for STEP in the greater North American region, facilitate communication between institutions in the U.S. and Japan, and develop scholar/student exchange programs between cooperative institutions. A.C.E. will also manage North American promotion of the EIKEN test, the leading English-proficiency assessment in Japan. By enhancing communication between institutions in North America and Japan, this innovative partnership will advance STEP and A.C.E. toward their common goals of promoting English education and global citizenship.

Read the full news release here.

Candidates with Grade Pre-1 certificates may now use their EIKEN results when applying for graduate and undergraduate degree programs at Rutgers University. Rutgers, a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), is the State University of New Jersey and one of America's leading comprehensive public research institutions. Rutgers joins more than 350 U.S. colleges and universities recognizing EIKEN as satisfying the English-language proficiency requirement for international admissions.