You can check that the centre is accredited by looking on the A-Z list.

All the schools, colleges and universities on this list are accredited through Accreditation UK. This means that they have been inspected by our ELT-specialist inspectors and meet or exceed the agreed quality standards for accreditation.

Inspection reports: All inspections result in an inspection report. These are written for the Accreditation Scheme Advisory Committee to make a recommendation on accreditation; they also help the provider continue to improve. British Council inspection reports describe the English language teaching provision in relation to Accreditation UK requirements at the time of the inspection; please refer to the institution for up-to-date course information before booking a course.

From 1 January 2013, inspection reports on accredited providers will be published on our A-Z list. Providers can also request publication of their most recent inspection report. Please note that it will be four years before all providers have a published report. Reports on providers failing to gain accreditation (around 30% of new applicants) will not be published and they are not listed on our website.

Full inspection reports:

•Indicate that the section standards are met

•Include a ‘publishable statement’ summary indicating main strengths and any areas needing significant improvement •Include statistics and a description of the provider (profile and introduction)

•Assess provision against all inspection criteria with detailed comments and a summary for each section.

Publishable statements are a helpful summary of the inspectors’ findings, available in two separate documents (A-K and L-Z) for easy reference. They include:

•Name of provider and date of last full inspection

•Type of institution, main type of course offered and age range of student enrolled (see providers’ website for full details)

•Any areas needing improvement

•Any areas which are a particular strength (described as ‘points of excellence’ up to 2011 and ‘areas of strength’ from 2012).

Reading the reports

Reports should be read with reference to the full inspection criteria for the relevant year which you can download from the A-Z page. Some individual criteria may be N/a (not applicable) or ‘not met’ but each section has a summary of the inspectors’ assessment against the section standard. All four section standards must be met for accreditation to be awarded.

Other inspections

Short unannounced inspection visits are also conducted:

•On newly accredited providers

•To check action taken to address need for improvement

•To inspect new or additional premises

•To inspect new courses.

Reports on these spot checks and supplementary inspections will be included on our A-Z list after the full inspection report.

The British Council also conducts interim visits on a selection of providers chosen at random. These inspections are not part of the regular inspection schedule and the reports are not published.