We have carried out a strategic review of the British Council's education exhibitions to evaluate the role and purpose of the exhibitions in today’s international education environment and look at the performance of British Council.

The report on the review is available to members of the Education UK Partnership:
Strategic review of British Council education exhibitions report (377KB) - published July 2007

Overall, the review concluded that exhibitions are still a popular and fruitful marketing tool, with both institutions and visitors still valuing the face-to-face contact they facilitate. However, the review also concluded that the role of exhibitions in the marketing mix has changed because of the developments in e-marketing, an increase in the use of agents, the ease of international travel and the general increase in international education provision. For exhibitions to continue to play an important role, they have to be innovative, modern and forward-looking.

Our exhibitions review came up with over 50 recommendations for us to implement. To illustrate the nature of these, right now we are working on the following:

			visitor and exhibitor registration systems that will generate data on serious enquiries and market information;
			evaluation questionnaires which elicit valuable recommendations for future events;
			new formats for specialised markets;
			strategies for lowering the costs.

The British Council is proud of our education exhibitions. They are flagship events and provide a unique opportunity to harness the reputation and respected profile of UK education institutions and the British Council. It is important to us to continue to offer this service to our overseas audiences and UK education providers.

Practitioners' panel
Following completion of the strategic review of exhibitions, we established a practitioners' panel to take forward recommendations. Minutes of the practioners' panel meetings are available:

May 2008 (94KB)
January 2008 (160KB)
September 2007 (506KB)

The next meeting will take place in September 2008.

If you have any comments regarding this work, please contact the Education UK Events helpdesk.