Around fifty thousand bilingual Colombians are required by the National Commerce Office "Mincomercio". The minister, Sergio Díaz-Granados, said that the objective is to establish contact between these people and companies that seek to benefit from the FTA agreement between Colombia and the US through a database created by the Ispeak program.
The officials hope to enroll at least 50000 Colombians to be tested and certified in order to be contacted by employing companies. From July the 2nd to November the 30th the fourth Ispeak certification process will be held in the whole country. It is a program created to evaluate the English level of colombian professionals and technicians to create a database that can make them more accessible to better work opportunities.
"We urgently need more bilingual Colombians", said the minister, "considering that in the current world most business are carried out in English. Free trade is already here and our country should contribute to strengthen a bilingual education that allows a greater number of Colombians to get better quality jobs as well as improving the country's competitivity." He explained.
The Ispeak previous processes, carried out annually between 2009 and 2011 are a clear evidence of how big national and international companies can hire the bilingual professionals needed. Nearly 60 per cent of the presented candidates certified a high or superior knowledge of the language, these individuals are the most adequate for being contacted by the different companies searching in our catalogue.
This year, Ispeak is expected to certify around 25000 candidates with high English as a foreign language proficiency. According to the minister, there are 204 enterprises integrated to the program. The most remarkable companies come from the software, communication technologies, tourism and outsourcing services or "BPO".
"We urgently need more bilingual Colombians", said the minister, "considering that in the current world most business are carried out in English. Free trade is already here and our country should contribute to strengthen a bilingual education that allows a greater number of Colombians to get better quality jobs as well as improving the country's competitivity." He explained.
The Ispeak previous processes, carried out annually between 2009 and 2011 are a clear evidence of how big national and international companies can hire the bilingual professionals needed. Nearly 60 per cent of the presented candidates certified a high or superior knowledge of the language, these individuals are the most adequate for being contacted by the different companies searching in our catalogue.
This year, Ispeak is expected to certify around 25000 candidates with high English as a foreign language proficiency. According to the minister, there are 204 enterprises integrated to the program. The most remarkable companies come from the software, communication technologies, tourism and outsourcing services or "BPO".
How does this certification program work? Those who are interested sign up in the www.ispeak.gov.co webpge for free. The candidates fill in a form, next, they receive a password to access the online test. After that, the people who have achieved the higher scores are automatically selected and summoned to take the face-to-face test that supports their certification, which is given as a diploma to the successful test takers.
All the certifications are registered in a national official database for Colombian bilinguals. This program has a nationwide coverage with face-to-face tests being carried out in 13 cities which are: Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Manizales, Armenia, Santa Marta, Pereira, Neiva and San Andrés.
