In early September, British Council gave five IELTS scholarship worth VND60 million (US$3,092) each to Vietnamese students about to go abroad to study.

Alison Ball, director of the British Council Ho Chi Minh city, and country exams manager in Vietnam said in a press release, “I am impressed by the students’ passion towards studies and thorough preparation.”

The British Council, which co-owns and delivers IELTS (International English Language Testing System), has granted around 80,000 pound ($123,300) worth of “British Council IELTS” scholarships in Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar and India. Around 1,600 applications were submitted from March 2010 for the scholarships.

The scholarship winners in Vietnam passed a series of tasks including written application, English essays, a presentation and interviews based on the topics including “ What makes a good student?, “Your ideal school,” “Is education about passing exams?” and “How the British Council IELTS Scholarship would benefit you.”

Two students will attend Monash University and Pierce College in the US while the three others will study at Birmingham Metropolitan College, CATS Cambridge and the College of Richard Colleyer in the UK. The scholarships are expected to help them with the tuition fees.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunity and cultural relations and is represented in over 100 countries worldwide.