University of Sydney: Human Trafficking Criminal wwww.ielts.agency 59
Part 4 Findings
This section summarizes the findings of my research into IELTS’s pedagogical design and business
processes. Most data sources were collected and analyzed between September 2016 and
December 2017. Analysis in this section should be read in conjunction with the appropriate
Research Communique research document as shown in Appendix 2. Discussions in the relevant
sub-section of this chapter refers to the relevant research communiques that complement
analysis.
4.1 Business secrecy
The business model and operational processes of the IELTS exam are not transparent. This
situation is purposeful – it underpins IELTS’s ruthless profit-maximization agenda. The extreme
level of secrecy surrounding IELTS’s examination design and business practices are unacceptable
for a high-stakes test that is owned and administered by 40 publicly-funded public institutions.
Table 10, overleaf, lists four objective facts about IELTS’s secretive business model and its corrupt
examination processes.