First-ever ETS Scholars Selected in Korea

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Princeton, NJ (February 5, 2009) —

Educational Testing Service, the world's largest assessment organization, awarded scholarships to 12 university students at its 2008 ETS Scholarship ceremony on December 18. The company, which administers the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, provided the scholarships to Korean students in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements. Each ETS scholar received a scholarship and recognition certificate.

The first of its kind in Korea, the ETS Scholarship Program was launched as part of ETS's mission to support university students in their academic endeavors, and to help them become successful as they compete in the global economy. The 12 students were selected after a two-month process of application evaluation and personal interviews.

These first ETS scholars will receive $4,000 each along with the scholarship certification. The scholarships will be delivered to each recipient's university and applied toward tuition fees.

"The ETS Scholarship Program has a significant meaning to ETS, since we are able to support the aspirations of students in Korea and recognize them for their outstanding performance," said Kurt Landgraf, ETS President and CEO.

In his speech of encouragement, Paul Lee, Country Manager of ETS Global's office in Korea, said, "The scholarship is the commitment of ETS to supporting Korean students who have great capability, vision and passion to achieve their goals. Also, it is the gift of ETS to express its affection for Korean students. ETS will do its best to establish the ETS Scholarship Program as one of the most prestigious, credible and representative scholarship programs in Korea."

"There have been a series of fierce debates among members of the selection committee over how to select 12 scholars out of 40 candidates who passed the application review process. All candidates shared excellent capabilities and personalities as well as outstanding academic performances and attitudes. I hope that the government, the education sector and particularly the educational institutions like ETS will continue their role in developing and nurturing these students in leading the Korean society in the future," said Professor Kyung Suk Kim, a member of the selection committee.

Jee Hyeon Choi, a selected ETS scholar, said, "I have been anxiously waiting for the result since I was told that many competitive students applied for the scholarship. Now, I'm really glad to hear that I've been selected as one of the first ETS scholars. I think that reading many English-language books and improving my listening, writing and speaking capabilities through many audio and visual resources that you can get from the Internet helped me more than studying only the English test itself. My experiences in social activities as well as internship programs also helped me a lot. I'm so proud of myself."

As a side event of the ETS Scholarship ceremony, ETS Global hosted the "Psychology Workshop for People in Their 20s" for the ETS scholars and their parents. Professor Kwak Keum-joo of the Psychology Department at Seoul National University, and author of "Psychology for People in Their 20s," led the workshop and lectured on self-exploration and life design that can help young people develop themselves as global talents with balanced capabilities.

About ETS and ETS Global Subsidiaries

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® test and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

ETS and its related ETS Global subsidiaries have offices around the world to meet the needs of non–U.S.-based entities in Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. In serving individuals, businesses, educational institutions, government agencies and membership organizations worldwide, ETS offers valid and reliable assessments, research and related services such as customized solutions, workforce products and services, and research-based teaching and learning tools.