Facts about the British Council

05 September 2013

 

ABOUT US

1. We share the UK’s great cultural assets with the world.

2. We support prosperity and security.

3. We create value for the UK.

 

Sharing the UK’s great cultural assets

•             We share the UK’s great cultural assets: the English language, arts and education with the world. This:

− builds trust in the people and institutions of the UK and supports prosperity and security around the world

− encourages people to visit, study in, and do business with the UK

− attracts people who really matter to all our futures to visit and engage with the UK.

 

We support prosperity and security

•             We teach English, offer educational opportunities, deliver large development contracts and share the best of the UK arts in big high-growth economies such as India, China, Brazil, the Gulf States, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey, all of which are increasingly important markets for UK businesses.

•             We offer young people from the UK opportunities to learn languages and travel overseas to connect with people abroad and develop the international skills and experience that will be critical to the success of the UK economy in the 21st century.

•             Our programmes support security and stabilisation in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and South Sudan.

•             We provide international opportunities to people living in isolated countries such as Burma, Iran and Zimbabwe, building trust in the UK and giving the people of these countries a voice that can be heard beyond their borders.

•             We deliver sustainable international development throughout Africa and Asia by improving English, skills and education systems and helping to secure good governance.

 

Creating value for the UK

•             We take an entrepreneurial approach, generating three quarters of our turnover ourselves, with only one quarter coming from a UK government grant.

•             In tough economic times, our ‘mixed economy’ model is delivering more work in the arts, English, education and society, and more benefit to the UK, while reducing the cost to UK taxpayers.

•             We generate our own income by (a) bidding for contracts to deliver programmes for both UK and overseas governments, (b) charging those that are able to pay for our services and expertise and (c) developing partnerships with private sector organisations.

 

FACTS

Last year, we worked with more than 580 million people worldwide. We worked with 12.5 million people face-toface, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.

We have offices in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Last year, our exhibitions, festivals, events and performances attracted 9.5 million people.

We increased the number of teaching centre students by five per cent to 308,000 and the exam candidates by two per cent to 1,969,000. Our online community of teachers and learners has grown to 2.2 million.

We offered face-to-face opportunities for 2.3 million people in the UK to gain international skills and experience.

We reached 9,200 UK organisations with initiatives involving a total of 167 different countries. Our UK website reaches 10.9 million people each year.

The British Council works with universities to help attract more than 400,000 international students to the UK every year. This creates an estimated export income of £9.8 billion for the UK economy.

In 2011–12, the British Council’s turnover was £739 million, with only £181 million Foreign Office grant funding. For every £1 of Foreign Office grant we generated over £3 of income from other sources.

By 2015, only 16 per cent of our turnover will come from our government grant – this means that, out of every £6 of activity building trust and influence for the UK, only £1 will be funded by our government grant.