The British Council
siddlobo
08 October, 2008 21:04
As part of our series on international institutions, today’s
article focuses on the British Council.
The British Council is a non-department public body of the UK
government which specializes in educational and development opportunities. Founded
in 1934, the main aim of this institution is to build cultural and educational
relations between the United Kingdom
and other countries. Its overseas network spans across 233 locations in 107 countries
and territories. In the UK, it has branch offices in London, Manchester,
Edinburgh,
Belfast,
Cardiff
and Cambridge
and a headquarters in Spring Gardens.
The British Council has two main sources of income – funding
in the form of grants from the governments and income from teaching English. In
2006/2007, it brought in an income of £551m, of which £195m was grants from the
British government.
Key activities of the
British Council
While its main focus is on the teaching and spread of the
English language and culture, it is also actively involved in promoting arts
and architecture, science and social development. Let’s look at each of these
in a bit more detail
Teaching and learning
English
The British Council has a number of courses to teach the
English language to students of various levels. They also have a number of
courses for people who want to teach English as a second language. Once ready
to teach, the British Council supports and partners with other courses and
networks to help students build their professional network. Some of the tie-ups
that they are a part of include ELTECS, Hornby Educational Trust and
SearchEnglish.
Strengthening
Inter-cultural Relationships
The British Council offers a number of opportunities to
strengthen cultural exchange between countuies.
Youth Exchange for example
helps British youth volunteer in projects around the world, School Partnerships allows students to
experience student life in another school in another part of the world, Teaching Exchange Programmes allow
teachers to ‘visit’ and train in foreign schools and the Sports Partnerships give sports enthusiasts an opportunity to explore
another culture through sports. The Global
Exchange is another interesting programme where a team from UK
and a team from another country work together on a project for six months to
learn and understand each other’s culture.
Let’s talk about Arts
British Council also offers a number of art-related courses.
From art, architecture and design to dance, drama, music, film and literature,
it’s a great place to check out international artists or hone your own skills.
Science and Society
The British Council picks a few topics and focuses on them
through the year. For example, in early 2008, the British Council initiated a
search to select young 'climate change champions' from 13 countries. The main
aim of the project was to form a team of youth ambassadors to spread awareness
about the effects of climate change and how they could help mitigate effects in
their immediate community.
