The British Council today announced the opening of the British Council IELTS Awards for 2015- 2016. Coming off a yearlong celebration of the 25th anniversary of IELTS (the International English Language Testing System) in 2014, the British Council will award a total of NPR 6.24 million in educational awards to students from across South Asia—including for the first time, students in Nepal—to help fund the cost of studies abroad.

“The British Council IELTS Awards aim to help Nepalese students pursue the opportunity of a higher education abroad, once they have taken the initial step of proving their English language ability with IELTS. As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations for IELTS we are launching two Awards for Nepalese students, thus helping them open doors around the world with IELTS.

Bringing the British Council IELTS Awards to Nepal is an exciting and important step in furthering our commitment to making study abroad a reality for more students around the world. In the SAARC region, in addition to Nepal, we are presenting awards in India and Bhutan, where IELTS is also a key part of their journey to international study opportunities.” As said by Sarah Deverall, Director Examinations India & Customer Service South Asia, British Council.

“This award would help Nepalese candidates boost their long term career chances in a global market so I recommend that you take advantage of this opportunity”, says Brendan McSharry, Director of The British Council in Nepal.

Over the past five years, 40 students from across India have received British Council IELTS Awards for a diverse range of courses around the world, including dramatic arts in the United Kingdom, law in the United States and engineering in Germany, among many others.

Persis Mistry, a speech and drama teacher, won her British Council IELTS Award in 2012, and took up her place on the MA course in Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London, UK.

Persis says that the award was a confidence boost during the applications process: “The Award allows candidates to compete in a creative and exciting way and judges each candidate on his / her actual performance in each task. I found this appealing and encouraging, and on winning the award was given a great confidence boost.”

The British Council IELTS Award is NPR 480,000 award- for Nepal, which may be used toward the tuition and fees of a degree programme anywhere outside the winner’s home country. The British Council will recognise 2 winners from Nepal this year.

The British Council IELTS Awards are open to students of Nepal who have taken the IELTS academic test recently. Applicants must plan to enrol in a course abroad during the 2015-2016 academic year. Applications will be accepted through 30 June 2015.