The British Council organised its third IELTS Rewards 2018 event at the Peninsula Chittagong on Thursday 25 January 2018. The event aimed to give an overview of the current IELTS market landscape and explore how the British Council and its partners can collaboratively work together to establish IELTS in Higher Education in Bangladesh.
Honourable Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation, Abu Jahed Mohammed Nasir Uddin graced the event as chief guest. Craig Ewan, Regional IELTS Business Development Manager, British Council, South Asia and Sebastian Pearce, Director Examinations, British Council, Bangladesh also addressed the event.
The key highlight of the event was British Council IELTS Scholarships 2018 which was launched on 18 December 2017. Attended by university personnel, educators, and representatives from 16 English Medium Instructed (EMI) schools and 14 IELTS registration centres, the event kicked off with a presentation on IELTS global updates by Sebastian Pearce. He addressed how the test has been performing worldwide and where Bangladesh stands in comparison to other countries. Craig Ewan took the stage afterwards where he highlighted the significance of IELTS in higher education across the world and how the test can positively contribute to higher education in Bangladesh.
Following on, Suman Banik, an English Language professional and teacher at the British Council Teaching Centre, gave the audience further insight into how the skills assessed through IELTS are required at various stages of an individual’s academic career, and how this credible and incorporable assessment could aid institutions across Bangladesh in terms of quality assessment of their future graduates.
The next session of the event comprised a presentation of the British Council IELTS Scholarships offerings for 2018. This year, for the first time, the British Council has also made this scholarship scheme available to students wishing to pursue higher education in Bangladesh. They are offering three scholarships worth BDT 300,000 (each) to study abroad and four scholarships worth BDT 150,000 (each) to study in-country. The scholarships are now live and will remain open for application until 31 March 2018.
Honourable Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation, Abu Jahed Mohammed Nasir Uddin was last on stage to share his views on British Council IELTS Scholarships: “This scholarships scheme is a wonderful initiative that makes higher education more accessible. It is a stepping stone for future influencers and decision makers from Bangladesh to develop academically and network extensively.’’
The first two IELTS Rewards 2018 events were held on 16 January 2018 at the British Council’s Dhaka University campus office and 23 January 2018 at the Rose View Hotel in Sylhet.
For more information, please visit www.britishcouncil.org.bd/en/IELTSScholarships2018