The British Council today announced the British Council IELTS Awards for the first time in Nepal for the year 2015-2016.

The award was launched with the objective of supporting Nepali students intending to study in an English-speaking country.

Issuing a press statement today, the British Council stated that it will award a total of Rs 6.24 million in educational awards to students from across South Asia, including Nepali students, to help fund the cost of studies abroad.

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

It said that the applications will be accepted from June 30, 2015.

The statement quoted Sarah Deverall, Director Examinations India and Customer Service South Asia saying, “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,” she further added.

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

Persis Mistry who won her British Council IELTS Award in 2012 said that the award was a confidence boost during the applications process.

According to the statement, the British Council IELTS Awards are open to students of Nepal who have taken the IELTS academic test recently.

Applicants must plan to enroll in a course abroad during the 2015-2016 academic year.

IELTS is the world’s most popular English test for immigration purposes.

As per the statement, 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.

source: the himalayan times,2 Feb 2015