British Council Vietnam will award its most valuable ever IELTS scholarships worth 450m VND to IELTS English scholars at an upcoming event in Ho Chi Minh City.

Those eligible to apply for scholarships included high school, pre-university, undergraduate or post graduate students.

Scholarships available included two valued at a total of 200m VND for those planning to study outside of Vietnam. Another scholarship valued at 100m for a student planning to study in the USA and 10 scholarships valued at a total of 150m VND for students planning to study in Vietnam.

The thirteen British Council IELTS Scholarship winners will be recognised at the event on 31 August at the British Council at 25 Le Duan, including the 3 overseas scholarship winners; Ha Mai Quyen who will study at Saint Andrew’s School (USA), Dinh Ngoc Thuy who will study at the University of Camberra (Aus) and Le Minh Dung who will study at Newcastle University (UK). The event starts at 9am, finishing at noon.

Alison Ball director of British Council Ho Chi Minh City and country exams manager said: “Young people in Vietnam are already well aware that learning English opens so many doors to them.  With this scholarship we can take that even further - we’re able to help people take their first steps in international education.  Hopefully their journey will not only prove to be an incredible adventure but it will also lead to a fulfilling career.”

The winners have been drawn from students taking the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) with British Council Vietnam.  IELTS is now the leading international English test in the world, with over 1.5 million candidates in the last 12 months and continued rapid growth. More than 6,000 organisations worldwide trust and accept the IELTS result .

In the academic year 2009/2010, 122 candidates achieved eight or above in the standard IELTS tests which go up to nine. In 2010/11 that figure was up to 192, an increase of 57%.

Anything higher than an eight is deemed by examiners to suggest the person can “understand with ease virtually everything heard or read” and can “express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely”.

The winning scholars come from six provinces in Vietnam (Can Tho, Binh Duong, Binh Thuan, An Giang, Hanoi and HCMC) and they will begin their courses in USA, UK, Australia and Vietnam at top university, high schools and institution in 2011.

The award was fiercely contested with the number of applicants increasing five fold.  The final 13 scholars were chosen following a series of evaluation stages including applications reviews, English interview and English presentations on subjects including English teaching and how the award would benefit the applicant.

Now British Council Vietnam is set to celebrate 40 more high fliers who have received top marks. Gifts will be presented to the top performers who will be encouraged to share IELTS tips with other students.

One of the winning scholars in 2010; Bach Thao Nguyen, who is currently studying for Associate degree in Biology at the University Pierce College, in the US had this to say: 'I chose to participate in this scholarship due to the prestige of British Council and good impression that I experienced when I took the test with British Council. The 'British Council IELTS scholarship' has helped me both financially and also contributed to my spiritual welfare. I was naturally very shy, so this scholarship has helped me understand that I must try harder. If you believe in yourself, you will do well and keep moving forward’.