City student wins British Council IELTS award

Navya Hebbar of Bengaluru is among 10 Indian students who have been declared winners of the British Council IELTS Awards 2015. The winners will receive Rs three lakh each towards the cost of tuition fees for undergraduate studies abroad.

The British Council IELTS Awards were launched in 2010 with the objective of assisting Indian students intending to study at universities abroad. Navya will be studying Journalism at University of Sheffield in United Kingdom, the British Council said in a media release on Thursday.

“I am honoured to have been recognised by the British Council in the IELTS Awards, and this recognition will help me go a long way in terms of my education and career. After completing my degree, I hope to come back to India as I recognise the need for responsible journalism and hope to become an active practitioner in the field. I hope to use the theory and technical skills that I gain during my studies abroad to help create a platform of interconnected hyper-local communities which will be self-sustaining as well as empowered,” Navya said.

Each of the winners was picked from over a thousand applicants. The rigorous application process included essay writing on a topic of their choice in English, a presentation to the judges’ panel and interviews.

This year, students chose topics as diverse as ‘Clean India – Attitude change is more important than the movement’ and ‘Academic achievement is more important for society than creative achievements.  How far do you agree with this statement?’

International English Language Testing System (IELTS), is designed to evaluate the ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and professional accreditation worldwide.

IELTS is now accepted by more than 9,000 educational institutions, employers, professional associations and governments in 145 countries.