 Zoubir Yazid, sixth from left in the first row, managing director of ETS Global BV, and Lee Yong-tak, seventh from left, country manager of ETS Korea, pose together with the awardees during the 2010 ETS Scholarship Award Ceremony at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of ETS |
By Kang Shin-who
A scholarship program, organized by the TOEFL and TOEIC test developer, Educational Testing Service (ETS), is helping competitive young collegians network with each other.
The U.S.-based test organizer has recently picked a total of 30 Korean college students who have excelled in English language learning and leadership and hosted an awards ceremony at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Thursday.
The students said the scholarship program helped them to improve communication skills and team-work capabilities.
“I challenged myself to learn how to be a global leader through this program and it was a good opportunity to learn leadership skills,” said Kim Ho-joon, a junior from Pusan National University.
Lee Dong-min, a senior studying economics at Ewha Womans University, said the title, “Winner of ETS Scholarship” will definitely be a plus for her future career.
ETS has been running the program since 2008 for college students with a grade point average of 3 or above on a 4 point scale and holding certification of iBT TOEFL or TOEIC scores.
In the first phase of the program, students are screened using application documents such as transcripts, letters of recommendation and essays.
Those who pass the first session take part in a two-day workshop where they participate in activities that allow them to demonstrate teamwork, creativity and leadership skills.
Good memory
Choi Young-hoon, a sophomore majoring in economics at Seoul National University, said, “I applied for this program last year because it was a good chance to network with future leaders, but I failed. This year I tried to perform better in team-work ability and succeeded to win the scholarship.”
Those who are selected receive $4,000. Park So-yun of Korea University said, “Participants might be stressed as they need to compete with each other but I would like to advise future applicants to just enjoy the experience and do your best, then it will be a good memory.”
She added that regardless of the results, the program will help participants to be more confident and practice what they have learned so far.
“For the third year in a row, ETS has demonstrated our commitment to helping advance English language learning in Korea,” said Zoubir Yazid, managing director of the ETS Global BV.
“The ability to communicate well in English will provide Korean students greater opportunity to achieve their personal, educational and professional goals. This year’s winners have demonstrated their commitment to achieving success, and we are proud to honor that commitment.”
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