Overall facts for UK stakeholders
21 September 2012
We build trust and international opportunities
We support growth and prosperity
We provide excellent value for the UK
- We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide - we call this cultural relations
- We share the UK’s great cultural assets: the English language, arts, education and our way of life with the world. This:
- builds trust in the people of the UK and supports prosperity and security around the world
- encourages people to visit, study in, and do business with the UK
- We increase awareness and opportunities for the UK in the big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil
- We support security and stabilisation in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya
- We help bring international opportunities to people living in isolated countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma
- We deliver sustainable international development by improving skills and education systems and helping to secure good governance
- We take an entrepreneurial approach, earning our own income as well as receiving funding from government
- People increasingly pay us for our services, for our work in international development and to access skills, ideas and expertise from the UK
- Income earned in this way funds the majority of our turnover. This is great value for the people of the UK
Each year, our work directly engages more than 30 million people worldwide and reaches nearly 600 million people through digital media, radio and television.
Each year, we provide opportunities for more than 3 million people in the UK to improve their skills and gain international experience.
Last year, we provided 1.3 million classroom hours of English teaching to 294,000 learners in our teaching centre classes. We supported almost 5 million English teachers around the world and reached nearly 100 million students via broadcasts, print or digital English teaching.
We also delivered 2.5 million UK exams around the world, generating £50m in export earnings for UK exam boards.
The British Council helps attract more than 400,000 international students to the UK every year. International student recruitment brings £9.8 billion to the UK economy per annum.
Our provision of UK exams and qualifications are worth £50 million in export earnings for UK exam boards.
In 2010 –11, the British Council’s turnover was £693 million, with only £190 million Foreign Office grant funding.
Over the next four years, our grant is being cut by 26%. By 2015, only 16% of our funding will come from our government grant – this means that, out of every £6 we spend on building trust and influence for the UK, only £1 will be funded by our government grant.
