NAIA Partners with Burlington VTest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Burlington VTest and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) have announced a multi-year partnership aimed at streamlining the admission and eligibility process for student-athletes. The partnership will focus on providing potential students a more affordable and accessible means of proving their English proficiency alongside having their educational credentials verified through InCred.
The Burlington Group, a global publisher of English language curricula, is committed to offering state-of-the-art learning and assessment solutions that empower students, employees, and lifelong learners to pursue their personal, professional, and academic dreams. Burlington VTest assesses students based upon the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a system that the vast majority of international students are readily familiar with and to which all other major language assessments correlate. Burlington VTest is a full member of the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), an Institutional Member of International Language Testing Association (ILTA), and an associate member of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE).
"This multi-year partnership with the NAIA is the culmination of yearslong conversations we had with their team about helping to streamline the eligibility process for student-athletes coming from non-English speaking countries," said Carl Holtman, Global Partnerships Manager for Burlington VTest. "We saw what the NAIA was doing with its InCred evaluations and thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we could add an English proficiency component? This will not only benefit the student-athletes coming to NAIA schools, but through our reach as Burlington English, we could potentially be helping these same institutions see a return on athletics as we help to create brand awareness for the schools through our global network and attract non-athletes who see value in a quintessential small college experience.”
“We are excited to partner with Burlington VTest, which offers top-notch English instruction modules and proficiency testing,” said Leah McCormack, NAIA Vice President of Business Development and Eligibility Center. “Burlington VTest will bring exposure to NAIA institutions with their global reach and can smooth the transition for international students as they adjust to English instruction in the U.S.”
The partnership between Burlington VTest and the NAIA will begin immediately and continue through the 2025-2026 academic year. Both organizations are committed to working together to ensure the success of international student-athletes across the country.
ABOUT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS (NAIA) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small athletics programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics. NAIA members provide more than 83,000 student-athletes with opportunities to play college sports, earn $1.3 billion in scholarships and compete in 28 national championships. naia.org | @NAIA
About Burlington English
For over 40 years, the Burlington Group has been publishing educational material used by millions of learners around the world. Today, Burlington is a global supplier of digital material and assessment solutions for learners of English. It has a significant market presence in the US, throughout southern Europe, from Spain to Turkey, as well as India, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil. The company has developed Burlington VTest, a portfolio of English language proficiency assessments, which use advanced technologies to allow students to prove their English language ability securely at anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
