Our purpose is to create international opportunities for, and trust between, the people of the UK and other countries worldwide. We achieve our purpose through our work in the following three core areas: Education and Society, English and the Arts.

In Wales, our work brings together large scale global and European projects with local cultural relations work.

For example Erasmus, Europe’s largest exchange programme, is based in British Council Wales, as are representatives from other Global and European programmes. In addition we manage projects for the local constituency such as the Welsh Language Project (for Welsh teachers to train teachers in Patagonia) and Writers’ Chain (a translation project for Welsh and Indian writers) - both of which are partly funded by the Welsh Government.

Our work in Wales is supported by a Wales Advisory Committee chaired by Aled Eirug comprising representatives from the Welsh Government and the key sectors in which we operate, as well as a National Assembly for Wales Cross Party Group on International Partnership Working.

Education and Society
In Wales, our work in the education sector includes higher education, schools education, and vocational and technical education, as well as science, climate change and sport. The focus of our education work is to internationalise school, technical and higher education, share Wales’ expertise and raise standards in Wales and around the world. We also have a grant agreement with the Welsh Government to deliver a range of international education activities within.

In Society, our goal is to develop stronger global citizenship among people in the UK and worldwide and we support the Welsh Government’s aspirations for Wales to be more open and internationally connected through, for example, programmes like Active Citizens and OPENCities.

Arts
We aim to bring the best contemporary Welsh work to new international audiences, including online, through creative experiences. Our team in Wales works with our global arts team and key partners in Wales including the Arts Council of Wales to:

• Engage with the best of Welsh creative talent.
• Develop innovative, high-quality events and collaborations that link hundreds of artists and cultural institutions around the world, drawing them into a closer relationship with the Wales.

Thanks to a renewal of our partnership agreement between Arts Council of Wales and British Council, over the next three years Wales Arts International (WAI) will establish a new strategic programme of art form partnerships with leading arts organisations in Wales, to develop their work internationally and support them to become international leaders.