Key facts about the British Council

All about us

• We operate in 109 countries all over the world winning friends and influence for the UK
• Cultural relations – the business of building trust and understanding between nations – is a vital part of the UK’s international relations
• Our activity includes the arts, education and training, teaching English language, science and technology, sport, governance and human rights – and we’re probably the only organisation in the world that covers the full spectrum of human activity in education and training
• Our approach delivers both short term and long term benefits for the UK
• We’re a modern, efficient organisation which gives good value for money
• We enrich the cultures of the UK and help to raise standards and achievements in UK schools by broadening the horizons of young people

The British Council in numbers 2008-09

• In 2007-08 we received grant-in-aid of £189 million from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Our total turnover 2007-08 was £551 million
• For every pound of grant we receive we generate an additional £1.92p
• We work in 110 countries and territories (including the UK)
• We’ve led a campaign to bring an extra 75,000 HE and FE students into the UK each year. In April 2006 we launched PMI 2 designed with the target of attracting 100,000 students to the UK by 2011
• In 2007-08 we reached over 112 million people
• In 2007-08 we engaged with 15.6 million people
• In 2007-08 we earned £16.3 million from contracts delivered on behalf of organisations such as the EU and DFID
• Our Connecting Classrooms programme enabled over 1 million young people in 900 schools in the UK and around the world to learn together
• In 2007-08 we administered 1.7 million examinations to 1.3 million students

Key numbers (07/08)

• UK government grant-in-aid £188 million
• Total turnover £551 million
• We have 7,900 staff
• 2.85 million enquiries handled each year worldwide
• 7.4 million people a year visit our centres
• We have engaged with 1.3 million customers of our English Language Teaching and examinations
• We deliver 1.5 million UK examinations to over one million candidates worldwide
• In 70 British Council Teaching Centres in 53 countries we teach 1,189,000 class hours to 300,000 learners

Our purpose

The British Council builds engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide.

We work in three main programme areas:

Inter-cultural dialogue

Our aim here is to:

• Strengthen understanding and levels of trust between people in the UK and other societies
• Strengthen the consensus for rejecting extremism in all its forms
• Increase the ability of individuals and organisations to contribute to positive social change and the strengthening of civil society
• Increase the use of English as a tool for international communication and inter-cultural understanding

UK creative and knowledge economy

Our aim here is to:

• Increase the value to the UK of its share of the market for international education
• Enhance the UK’s reputation as a source of expertise and a partner for skills development, including in the teaching and learning of English
• Strengthen the international profile and engagement of the UK’s creative sector
• Increase the UK’s contribution to international co-operation in research and innovation
• Ensure that every teacher and learner of English worldwide has access to quality language services from the UK

Climate change

Our aim here is to:

• Increase understanding of the case for tackling climate change
• Increase support for the achievement and implementation of international agreements that address the threats of climate change
• Strengthen relationships and networks which lead to action on climate change mitigation and adaptation
  

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