Washington DC, 25 May - During President Obama’s State Visit to the United Kingdom this week, the President and Prime Minister issued a joint statement highlighting the importance of UK-US collaboration in the fields of higher education, science and innovation. With both countries being home to the top ten ranked universities in the world, the statement outlines the success of the UK and US in higher education as well as their call for stronger and deeper engagement for the benefit of students.

A number of key activities were mentioned in the statement where the British Council is a key partner for the UK and US higher education sector collaboration. These include our expertise in global research and analysis, facilitation of partnerships, policy engagement and our support for mobility and lifelong networks for international graduates.

The statement by Cameron and Obama declared that:

‘The UK and the US are world-leading knowledge economies and enjoy the most productive bilateral higher education relationship in the world, with each country being the other's top destination for overseas study - a partnership worth more than $1 billion annually. The Prime Minister and President welcomed the forthcoming meeting of the UK-US Higher Education Policy Forum. They also encouraged further strengthening of institutional higher education links including international internships and other modes of mutual mobility for students and faculty members-between the US and UK and in cooperation with other global partners-to better equip American and British students with the skills needed to succeed in and bolster the global economy.’

Sharon Memis, Director of the British Council in the USA, said:

‘The joint statement by President Obama and David Cameron recognises the strength and depth of UK-US higher education relationships and encourages us to do more to enhance this essential engagement. Our new International Higher Education strategy reflects much of our existing work with our many US partners and we look forward to stepping up our engagement across the US to strengthen the vital relationships in higher education between our two countries.’

The joint statement by President Obama and David Cameron can be found through:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/25/joint-fact-sheet-us-uk-higher-education-science-and-innovation-collabora

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Contact:

Mary Catherine Scarborough, British Council, MaryCatherine.Scarborough@britishcouncil.org

Notes

The joint statement by President Obama and David Cameron can be found through:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/25/joint-fact-sheet-us-uk-higher-education-science-and-innovation-collabora

The British Council in the USA launched its new International Higher Education (IHE) strategy last week in Washington, D.C. as part of a phased roll-out across the British Council’s worldwide network. The strategy reflects the centrality of higher education to the British Council’s work since the 1930’s and also the inter-connected nature of global higher education.

IHE comprises four key strands of activity:

• Education Intelligence will deliver market research through a portal accessible to all institutions and organisations keen to understand international student mobility, decision making and comparative approaches to internationalisation. The portal will launch in North America at the NAFSA Annual Conference in Vancouver on 1 June and will offer a range of country briefs, student insight reports and policy indices.
• Knowledge Partnerships will facilitate strategic partnerships between higher education institutions around the world. In the US this work is already underway with the British Council’s New Partnership Fund providing funding for 31 initiatives linking UK and US institutions; with 16 partnerships involving universities in China, India, Brazil, Rwanda and the Palestinian Territories. The projects encompass a variety of fields including robotics, public health, climate change and fashion. Evaluations of these partnerships over the next few years will also deliver a best practice toolkit to aid future partnership development.
• Policy Dialogues will enable higher education policymakers and institutional practitioners from around the world to gather and debate key issues facing higher education. The British Council facilitates and synthesises the themes and ideas that emerge from these discussions to inform activities such as Going Global, the Council’s major international higher education conference. The British Council already has a track record in enabling strategic dialogue with over sixty policy forums held around the world in 2010. In the US, the UK-US Higher Education Policy Forum is into its second year with its next meeting taking place in the UK in October.
• Students and Alumni will focus on supporting student mobility both into and out of the UK within the wider context of institutional partnerships including facilitating opportunities for researchers and embedding internships within mobility programmes. Alumni work will reflect the need to maintain connections and offer opportunities for networking to the many thousands of international alumni from the UK.

Further information on International Higher Education can be found through:

http://www.ihe.britishcouncil.org/

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international cultural relations organization. Working in more than 100 countries, we build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. In the United States, we cultivate long-term links between the UK and US, re-energizing the strategic transatlantic relationship through the arts, education and young leadership networks.