Cambridge English Qualifications for Business (BEC)

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Contact: Karen Kerley

An important update about Cambridge English Qualifications for Business (BEC)

We are writing to let you know that the last exam sessions for our Cambridge English Qualifications for Business (BEC) will be in December 2023 for computer-based sessions and June 2024 for paper-based. This affects B1 Business Preliminary, B2 Business Vantage and C1 Business Higher.

BEC has made an extremely valuable contribution to our organisation and was first launched 28 years ago. It has become a household name in many parts of the world, like Switzerland, which is down to the hard work and dedication of you as a BEC preparation centre and of your exam centre. However, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of candidates taking BEC globally over the past five years. Some of this is the result of demographic factors but we must also recognise that requirements for assessment products are changing, with a greater need for assessments that can be taken on-demand and remotely. We therefore believe our learners will be better served by other products in our portfolio, such as our Cambridge English Qualifications for General and Higher Education.

There will be BEC dates up to and including June 2024 for Switzerland, but we will not be running any further sessions after that. Of course, BEC certificates will remain valid after this date, and candidates will still be able to use them to prove their level of English to prospective employers, universities, etc.

If you any questions about the implications of this decision, or would like to discuss the alternative qualifications and tests which we offer, we would urge you to contact your Exam centre or the local Cambridge team at dach@cambridgeenglish.org.

If you decide not make contact with us now, we will in any case be in touch again in due course about alternative assessments.

We would like to thank you for all the work you have put into preparing students for our business qualifications over the years, and for contributing to our mission of helping more than 2.5 million candidates to prove their English language skills to the world.

Cambridge Assessment English