By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will select 300 students eligible for the forthcoming student exchange program with the United States next month, ministry officials said Tuesday.
It will select 2,000 more in the summer and fall to have them study English and get internships for 18 months under the Work, English Study and Travel (WEST) program agreed upon by leaders of the two nations in August, they said.
``We planned to select 1,000 students in March but modified the plan given the economic situation and increasing calls to prepare more to implement the landmark program,'' a ministry spokesman told reporters.
Under the program, up to 5,000 South Korean university students or recent graduates are able to go to the United States to study English for five months and get paid internships there for 12 months and travel for a month.
The government plans to select students in Seoul and those in provincial areas in a 4:6 ratio, said the spokesman.
Twenty-percent of applicants will be selected from those in the low-income bracket in March and the ratio will increase to 50 percent by the end of 2009, he said. The government plans to bear between 25-75 percent of related costs, estimated at about 23 million won, he added.
Sophomores at four-year universities or freshmen at two-year colleges nationwide can apply for the program if they have score 600 or higher on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) and a grade of more than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, ministry officials said.
Those recommended by some of the country's education agencies are also eligible to participate in the program after undergoing an interview by the foreign ministry, they said.
The first group of selected students will be announced next month and leave for the United States in March.
The U.S. organizations sponsoring the program are the Association for International Practical Training, Council on International Educational Exchange and Intrax Cultural Exchange, they said.
South Korea will be the first to benefit from the WEST program, which is expected to help promote understanding and friendship between young people of the two nations. The program is an expansion of the Work and Travel program operated by Washington, in which international students can enter the United States for up to four months during vacation and work.
[출처 : 코리아타임스]
