Bringing Affordable English Tests to Indonesia with Duolingo

Work

Duolingo English Test Webinar CASE STUDY

The Brief

Across the world, students dream of winning a place at a university or college abroad. In 2021, Indonesia was ranked no. 22 worldwide for having the most students studying in a foreign country. 

Scholarships provided by the Indonesian government, such as the highly sought-after  Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education  mean that dreams of studying further afield are now accessible.  

Students who wish to study internationally are often required to take an English proficiency test. In the past this has meant expensive tests such as TOEFL iBT® or IELTS, but now students are able to sign up for Unlike traditional tests, the Duolingo English Test  can be taken anywhere, anytime, in the comfort of your home, or wherever you can find a stable internet connection. You no longer have to travel to another city. Furthermore, the DET costs less than 1/5 of a traditional test. Priced at just US$49 or approximately IDR 735,000, it is much more affordable.  

The tests itself takes less than an hour to complete, and participants receive their scores in less than 2 days. Over 4,000 universities around the world accept the Duolingo English Test, including some of the top universities globally, such as Australian National University, Cornell, Duke, Columbia, Imperial College London, McGill, MIT, Northeastern, NYU, Penn, Chicago University, USC, Yale, and many more. 

In 2022, to reach out to Indonesian students, Duolingo developed the first webinar, in collaboration with IISMAeVO to leverage the awareness about the event to polytechnic students and other university all around Indonesia and provide them best practices to pass the test.  

The first webinar was enthusiastically received. This combined with ongoing momentum of scholarship applications to the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education lead Duolingo to host a second workshop in February 2023.From both webinar sessions, Vero generated more than 1,400 participants and more than 3,000 registrations. 

Execution

Vero played a crucial role in promoting the Duolingo English Test webinar and attracting participants from universities across Indonesia by partnering with IISMAeVO and engaging with prominent influencers who received their own scholarships to study abroad. We worked with influencers to disseminate information, ensuring that the event was widely publicized, reached students who want to study abroad and need support in pursuing their dreams. This collaboration allowed us to connect with students who could benefit from the event and help them to understand the best practices for participating in Duolingo English Test. 

In addition, we produced a version of the Duolingo English Test Bahasa subtitles to give a better understanding of best practice when participating in the Duolingo English Test and how it can help them achieve their goals. 

Additionally, to pique the audience’s interest and give them a chance to experience the Duolingo English Test, we offered 20 free tests to 20 lucky participants. 

THE RESULT
+3,000
participants registered to attend the event​
+1,400
participants attended the event​
460
universities of the participants who attended​