Civil servants' TOEIC score at bottom of global ranking

The average score of public servants in Taiwan on TOEIC, an English proficiency test, was among the lowest for public servants around the world, according to the United Evening News.

Taiwanese public servants received an average score of 474, far behind the global average of 612, according to the 2008 TOEIC report conducting by Educational Testing Service (ETS).

The average score by army and police personnel in Taiwan was only 450, the second worst in same group worldwide.

The TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is the global standard for measuring English language skills for business, with a full score of 990.

ETS Taiwan representative, Wang Xing-wei said that more than 180,000 people took the exam in 2008 but the average score was 533, about 20 points lower than the global average.

Some industries in Taiwan, including diplomatic, trading and mass media, attained similar scores to the world average. However, service industries, including government organizations, military and law enforcement, and medical and travel showed a lack of English ability on the test, said Wang.

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