Information for students and agents

Accreditation guarantees quality 

• Teaching that meets student needs.
• Robust safeguarding for under-18s
• Safe, well-equipped facilities
• Honest marketing materials
• Clear, well-known emergency procedures
• If a centre offers accommodation, including homestays, it’s regularly inspected to meet accreditation standards.

Rigorous inspection process

• Full inspections every four years
• Re-inspections within 18 months for new centres
• Follow up spot-checks
• Reviews by ELT-specialist inspectors
• Publicly available inspection reports and criteria focused on international students

Benefits for students

• Guaranteed quality across management, teaching, and student support
• A formal complaints process.
• Alternative courses at no extra cost if your provider closes unexpectedly

These standards are applied consistently across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, ensuring a reliable and high-quality experience wherever you choose to study.

After each inspection, a detailed report outlines how well a centre meets Accreditation UK standards during the visit. These reports inform the Accreditation Scheme Advisory Committee’s decisions and guide centres in ongoing improvements. Our A-Z list of accredited centres provides the latest inspection reports. Summary statements are also available in one document for easy reference.

What’s in an inspection report?

• Centre Profile: statistics and a description of the centre.
• Assessment: detailed evaluations of how the centre meets inspection criteria, with comments and a summary for each section.
• Summary statement: highlights the centre’s strengths and any areas needing improvement.

Understanding the reports

Each section summarises how well the centre meets the required standards, including management, resources, teaching, and student welfare. Centres enrolling under-18s must also meet an additional standard for their care.

Spot checks and supplementary inspections

In addition to full inspections, short, unannounced visits are conducted for newly accredited centres to verify improvements and inspect new premises or courses. The British Council also conducts random interim visits, though these are not part of the regular inspection cycle, and the reports are not published.

All accredited centres can enrol students on short-term study visas for courses up to 11 months. Some centres are also on the UKVI Register of Sponsors for student visas. For more details on visas, visit the GOV.UK website.

Students at British Council accredited centres benefit from the Student Emergency Support Fund, which helps them complete their studies where possible in the rare event of a centre closure and may also cover some lost accommodation fees

Accreditation UK is dedicated to addressing complaints about accredited organisations. Many accredited centres are also members of English UK, our partner in the Scheme. If your complaint concerns a member school or college, we will forward it to them for investigation.

If the centre is not a member, we will handle the complaint directly. While most complaints are resolved amicably, we also have an independent ombudsman to review more complex cases.

How to make a complaint

Accredited centres are required to have a process in place for handling complaints from students, parents, or agents. We recommend that you use this process first. (Be sure to thoroughly review your contract, the centre’s terms and conditions, and any visa requirements.)

You can contact us with a complaint anytime before, during, or after your studies at an accredited centre. If you’ve already raised your complaint with the centre and it remains unresolved, please email us at accreditation.unit@britishcouncil.org with:

• A written complaint from the student (or a parent/guardian if the student is a child). If the complaint is not in English, include at least the main points translated into English.

• Details of how you or your representative tried to resolve the issue with the centre, along with the centre’s response.

Please note that we cannot address complaints about non-accredited organisations or from non-students about accredited centres unless there is a clear threat to student welfare.