"We proposed that AusAID help raise the TOEFL scores of civil servants in NTB and they agreed," said Rosiady Sayuti, head of NTB`s Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) after accompanying Vice Governor H Badrul Munir at a meeting with a team from the Australian embassy in Jakarta here on Thursday.
The 6-member Australian Embassy team had come to Mataram to familiarize relevant provincial NTB officials with an extended program to provide scholarships for NTB civil servants.
Rosiady said on the occasion the NTB government had asked for Australian assistance to raise the TOEFL scores of civil servants in the province and the request was responded to positively.
"The Australian embassy representatives agreed to give the assistance. Our target is to have 50 civil servants working at provincial and district or city level government offices improve their TOEFL score," he said.
The average TOEFL score of civil servants in NTB now, according to Rosiady, was 450 whereas to receive a scholarship for studies abroad one had to have a minimum TOEFL score of 500.
"AusAID is to assign teachers from the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) in Denpasar, Bali, to improve NTB civil servants English-language proficiency." he said.
The program would be financed with funds from the NTB provincial government and from AusAID. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
