A motorist drives past Iranian flags installed along a street, a day before the funeral procession of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala. (AFP Photo)
International testing has been frozen in Iran following the latest U.S. sanctions announced in August, part of Washington’s “economic asphyxiation” of the country over the Middle East war.
The suspension has thrown the plans of students hoping to study abroad into disarray, forcing many to seek costly alternatives overseas.
Iranian student Nikki cried for days, as she had planned to study psychology in Italy, but after U.S. sanctions forced the suspension of an English exam required in order to make her dream come true.
Nikki had been due to take the TOEFL English proficiency test, a key qualification required by many foreign universities, in Iran later this month.
Now, like many Iranian students dreaming of a future elsewhere, she is scrambling to find another way to take it, while absorbing the new exam fee and hefty travel costs.
“When I found out that the exam had been cancelled... I did not leave my room for several days because I was crying,” said the 32-year-old, who works at a pastry shop in the northern city of Lahijan.
“My plans were left hanging midway.”
The U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the TOEFL English proficiency test, said the exams were suspended after the U.S. Treasury stopped issuing licenses for them.
On its website, ETS said Iranians could still travel abroad to take the exams.
Alternatives, including the PTE English proficiency test and the increasingly popular Duolingo online exam, have also been suspended, according to Iranian media.
But taking the exams abroad is scarcely affordable for many Iranians.
“I am now trying to get a loan so that I can book the exam and go to a neighboring country to take it,” said Nikki, adding that she was considering Armenia.
In Telegram groups sharing updates and advice about the tests, students were scrambling to find the cheapest and quickest alternatives to complete their applications.
In one group with more than 24,000 members, users weighed travelling to neighboring Armenia, Iraq or Turkey, while others calculated the mounting costs.
One contributor ruled out taking the exam in Istanbul, saying “going there is for the rich who can afford flights.”
