Taiwan No. 2 in Asia IELTS scores

The average score of Taiwanese IELTS test-takers was 5.90 in 2011, an improvement from 5.80 the previous year.

The British Council yesterday announced the five winners of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scholarship, Yi-Chen Wu, Hsin-Yuan Tsai, Jen-Hsiang Wang, Hao-Hsuan Chang and Chin-Mei Chen.

Each year the British Council finds 15 candidates with an IELTS score of over 6.5 to be interviewed by three judges on their English proficiency, creativity and attitude. Five winners are then picked to be rewarded NT$100,000.

Tony Lin, director general of the Bureau of International and Cultural Education Relations (BICER) under the Ministry of Education, stated, “The international community is actively responding to the call of global competition … it’s important that the British IELTS scholarship encourages Taiwanese graduates to reach beyond their resources and gain a greater international experience.”

Wang, a winner who will be studying global business analysis at the University of Manchester, said, “This scholarship reminds me that so many people are willing to support us young people who dream of standing on an international platform.”

For some, the financial boost was an important factor in deciding which school to attend. Winner, Hao-Hsuan Chang, spoke of her panic when she was accepted into the University of Cambridge without any financial aid. “The IELTS scholarship has been a great help by providing supplementary funds,” she stated.

The IELTS has grown in popularity among western education systems with more than 1.7 million tests being distributed annually worldwide. Taiwan is tied for second place for IELTS availability in Asia, only coming in second to Hong Kong. Whereas most standardized testing involves little interaction, students believe that the IELTS is humanized by the inclusion of a test prompter to interact with. Currently the IELTS is acceptable in Canada, Australia, and the UK, and the British Council predicts that it may become a viable alternative to other standardized testing in the U.S.