British Council

English and examinations

The British Council offers face-to-face teaching in more than 80 teaching centres in more than 50 countries.^[29]

Three million candidates took UK examinations with the British Council in more than 850 towns and cities in 2014–2015.^[29]

The British Council jointly runs the global IELTS English-language standardised test with the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and IDP Education Australia. Over 2.5 million IELTS tests were delivered in 2014–2015.^[29]

Mobility programmes

Schools

Universities

Arts and culture

UK-India Year of Culture

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II hosted the official launch of the UK-India Year of Culture on 27 February 2017 at Buckingham Palace, with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley representing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The British Council worked with the Palace and British-Indian start-up Studio Carrom to project a peacock, India's national bird, onto the facade of Buckingham Palace.^[38]

Cultural and educational exchange with North Korea

The British Council has been running a teacher training programme in North Korea since 2001.^[43] In July 2014 the British Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for cultural and educational exchange.

Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards

The British Council's Young Creative Entrepreneurs Awards identify and support talented people from across the creative industries, such as the International Young Publisher of the Year, International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year, International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year and British Council West Africa Arts Programme ~ Creative Entrepreneurs 2018 awards.^[44][45][46]

Shared Services in India

In 2024, the EL Gazette highlighted the British Council’s outsourcing of teacher recruitment and other administrative operations to Uttar Pradesh, India,^[47] as previously reported in The Times.^[48] The EL Gazette report raised concerns about cultural and operational missteps, including poor communication, language proficiency issues, and bureaucratic inefficiencies stemming from the Council’s shared services centre in Noida. These challenges were detailed in an unearthed GSD Strategy paper, seen by the publication, which documented significant service shortcomings over several years.

Taiwan Teachers Vote on Historic Strike Over Stagnant Pay

British Council teachers in Taiwan were set to vote on historic strike action over stagnant pay, unchanged since 2004 despite a 25% rise in inflation and a significant increase in student fees. EL Gazette reported that teachers argue recent below-inflation pay increments fail to address the issue, despite the Council's claim of offering competitive packages. Dissatisfaction is further fuelled by comparisons to better-paid roles in local international schools.^[49]

British Council's Handling of Afghan Teachers Post-2021

The British Council faced criticism for leaving behind over 100 Afghan teachers during the Taliban's 2021 takeover, exposing them to persecution for promoting UK values.^[50] While most were relocated to the UK by 2024 after years of hardship, some remain in danger, underscoring a critical failure in duty of care and the urgent need for systemic reform.^[51]

Expenses

In 2010, Conservative MP Mark Lancaster, the then Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury, the then Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, and other MPs were involved in rows over expenses incurred on undisclosed taxpayer-funded British Council trips.^[52] The British Council's then chief executive, Martin Davidson, also faced press criticism for expenses claimed in an apparent breach of the British Council's internal rules for overnight stays in London.^[53]

Closure in Russia

In 2007, the Russian government accused the British Council of an illegal operation by breaking Russian tax laws and ordered the organisation to close two of its offices. Many believed that the council had become the victim of a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia.^[54] In 2018, Russia expelled 23 British diplomats and closed down the British Council (due to a lack of regulations on its activities) along with the general consulate in St. Petersburg.^[55] The move was reported to be retaliation against the UK's actions toward Russia for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.^[56][57]

Israel and Palestine

The British Council has been a primary partner of the Palestine Festival of Literature since the Festival's beginning in 2008. In 2009, the Israeli police, acting on a court order, closed down the venue scheduled to host the Festival's closing event since there was Palestinian Authority involvement, but the British Council stepped in and the evening was relocated to its grounds.^[58]

The British Council supports the festival, also known as PalFest. A controversial issue arose in 2012 because PalFest's website states that they endorse the "2004 Palestinian call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel". Susanna Nicklin, the council's director of literature, said in response: "The British Council is a non-political organisation, and we believe that international cultural exchange makes a powerful contribution to a more peaceful, tolerant and prosperous world. Therefore, the British Council does not support cultural or academic boycotts."^[59]

Closure in Syria

The British Council closed its operations in Syria in 2012 due to the ongoing conflict in the country. The closure was a result of the deteriorating security situation and the inability to ensure the safety of its staff and visitors.^{[citation needed]}

Dissident Chinese writers

In April 2012, the British Council faced a storm of protests over the exclusion of dissident Chinese writers from the London Book Fair 2012. Critics included English PEN and journalist Nick Cohen writing for The Observer, as well as Alastair Niven, a former Literature Director of the British Council itself.^[60][61][62]

Cuts

In March 2007, the British Council announced its "intention to increase its investment in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and Southern Asia".^{[citation needed][needs update]} In June 2007, MPs were told of further closures in Tel Aviv and East Jerusalem (where there had been a British Council Library since 1946). The British Council libraries in Athens^[63] and Belgrade^[64] were also scheduled to close. Similarly in India, the British Council Libraries at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram were closed despite protests from library users as part of the Council's policy to "reduce its physical presence" in the country and to divert funds to mega projects in the fields of culture, education, science and research.^[65]

British Council libraries and offices have also been closed in several other countries judged by the British Council to be of little strategic or commercial importance, as it refocused its activities on China and the Persian Gulf area.^{[citation needed]} Council offices were closed in Lesotho, Eswatini, Ecuador and provincial Länder in Germany in 2000–2001 – as well as Belarus – prompting Parliamentary criticism. Subsequent promises by British Council Chair Neil Kinnock to a conference in Edinburgh^[66] that the Belarus closure would hopefully prove to be just a "temporary" withdrawal proved illusory. The British Council office in Peru also closed in September 2006 as part of a rethink of its strategy in Latin America. In Italy, British Council closed its offices in Turin and Bologna and reduced the size of offices in Milan and Rome (with the closure of the library in the latter).^[67]

Charles Arnold-Baker, author of the Companion to British History said of the British Council's shift in priorities: "This whole policy is misconstrued from top to bottom. We are going somewhere where we can't succeed and neglecting our friends in Europe who wish us well. The only people who are going to read our books in Beirut or Baghdad are converts already."^[68]

The article also points out that the Alliance française and the Goethe-Institut, unlike the British Council, are both expanding and replenishing libraries Europe-wide. France opened its new library in Tel Aviv in 2007, just a few months after the British Council closed there and shut down the British Council library in West Jerusalem.^[69] In Gaza, the Institut français supports the Gaza municipal library in partnership with the local authority and a municipal twinning link between Gaza City and the French port of Dunkirk.^[70][71] In Oslo, British Council informs Norwegian callers that "our office is not open to the public and we do not have an enquiry service".^[72] Goethe Institute also has a more visible presence in Glasgow than the British Council.^[73] There is now, in contrast, only one British Council office left in Germany – and that is in Berlin.^[74]

Accountability

Formally it is to its sponsoring department, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, that the UK Parliamentary Table Office refers any parliamentary questions about the British Council.^[75]

The effectiveness of British Council efforts to promote higher education in China was examined in the UK by the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills in a report issued in August 2007.^[76] It expressed concern that in terms of joint educational programmes involving Chinese universities, the UK lagged Australia, the US, Hong Kong, Canada and France. In its evidence to this committee, the British Council argued that "UK degrees are highly valued by international students for their global recognition. International students adopt an essentially utilitarian view of higher education which is likely to increasingly involve consideration of value for money, including opting for programmes at least partly delivered offshore". As their preferred marketing "model", the British Council gave the example of India where their UK India Education and Research Initiative^[77] is being "championed" by British multinational oil companies such as BP and Shell, the pharmaceutical giant GSK and arms company BAE Systems.^[78]

Criticism of British Council marketing efforts in this area has also come from Scotland where The Sunday Herald obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act showing that the British Council's Marketing Co-ordinator in the US had been referring to the University of Stirling as "The University of Sterling" (sic) and also documenting "tensions" between Scottish Executive civil servants and British Council in India and China over overseas promotion of universities in Scotland where education is a devolved responsibility. The Sunday Herald reported that these turf wars were undermining the Scottish Executive's key Fresh Talent policy.^[79]

Some of the activities of the British Council were examined in 2007/2008 by the National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO's report, The British Council: Achieving Impact, concluded: "that the British Council's performance is strong and valued by its customers and stakeholders".^[80] It also concluded, however, that its English classes are elitist and have unfair advantages over commercial providers, as well as questioning thousands of unanswered phone calls and e-mails to British Council offices.^[81]

As part of its examination of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report, the Foreign Affairs Committee spends an hour each year examining witnesses from the British Council but even this level of scrutiny is undermined by a Commons ruling exempting MPs from the requirement to declare overseas trips paid for by The British Council.^[52]

Two members of the Public Accounts Committee (Nigel Griffiths MP and Ian Davidson MP) were office-bearers in the British Council Associate Parliamentary Group.^[82] Nigel Griffiths MP was Vice-Chair of this British Council lobby group until stepping down as an MP.^{[83][citation needed]}

In 2008, the British Council was called before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following the earlier publication of a National Audit Office report. The subsequent PAC report confirmed that Nigel Griffiths MP – Vice Chair of The British Council Associate Parliamentary Group – was part of the small number of PAC members who approved this report on the British Council despite not having been recorded as being present during the evidence session – in June 2008 – where the British Council's chief executive was cross-examined.^[84] Mr Griffiths had earlier travelled to Russia and spoke favourably of British Council activities there in January 1998 around the time that their man in St Petersburg (Stephen Kinnock) was expelled.^{[81][85][86][87]}

In April 2008, the British Council was told to ensure all portable media was encrypted after losing staff data and wrongly saying the disc was encrypted.^[88]

Following the accusations made against the British Council in Russia (see above) Trevor Royle, the diplomatic editor of The Sunday Herald quoted a "British diplomatic source" saying: "There is a widespread assumption that The British Council is a wing of our Secret Intelligence Services, however minor. Officially it is no such thing but there are connections. Why should it be otherwise because all information is invaluable? After all, the British Council also deals with trade missions and inevitably that involves low-grade intelligence-gathering."^[89]

In 2005, along with the Alliance française, the Dante Alighieri Society, the Goethe-Institut, the Instituto Cervantes, and the Instituto Camões, the British Council shared in the Princess of Asturias Award for the outstanding achievements of Western Europe's national cultural agencies in communications and the humanities. At the time of this joint award, the full extent of The British Council's closure policies in Europe was not yet public knowledge.

In literature

Royle also goes on to note that the novel The Russia House by John Le Carré (former consular official David Cornwell) opens with a reference to The British Council. The organisation's "first-ever audio fair for the teaching of the English language and the spread of British culture" is "grinding to its excruciating end" and one of its officials is packing away his stuff when he is approached by an attractive Russian woman to undertake clandestine delivery of a manuscript which she claims is a novel to an English publisher who she says is "her friend"!^[89]

It is also featured in one of the scenes in Graham Greene's The Third Man – the character Crabbin, played by Wilfrid Hyde-White in the film, worked for The British Council. In 1946, the writer George Orwell advised serious authors not to work for it as a day job arguing that "the effort [of writing] is too much to make if one has already squandered one's energies on semi-creative work such as teaching, broadcasting or composing propaganda for bodies such as the British Council".^[90] In her autobiography, Dame Stella Rimington, the first woman head of MI5, mentions working for British Council in India before joining the British Intelligence Services.^[91]

The British Council was referred to (and its man on-station, Goole) – frequently in a humorous way by Lawrence Durrell in his collection of anecdotes about a diplomat's life on foreign postings for the Foreign Office – Antrobus Complete.^[92]

In the six Olivia Manning novels that make up The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy, Guy Pringle is an employee of the British Council, and Council politics make up several of the plot points. The books portray Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the opening years of World War Two.

Burma

The role of the British Council in Myanmar in 1947 came under scrutiny with the release of classified documents to a BBC investigation by journalist Feargal Keane into the role of dissident British colonial officials in the assassination of the then Burmese independence leader Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi).^[93] The BBC programme quoted from a 1948 document sent by the Chief of Police in Rangoon to the British Ambassador stating their belief that there had been British involvement in the assassination of Aung San and his Cabinet for which one of his political opponents was hanged and that "the go-between" had been a British Council official named in the programme.

Libya

In August 2011, a journalist from The Irish Times discovered a certificate dated 2007 issued by the British Council in Tripoli to a daughter of President Gaddafi who had previously been said to have been killed in a US raid on Gaddafi's residence in 1986.^[94][95]

English and examinations

In July 2011, the Hong Kong edition of China Daily reported on the flourishing "ghost-writing" industry that critics suggest has sprung up around the British Council IELTS tests in China.^[96]

A major IELTS corruption scandal in Western Australia resulted in prosecutions in November 2011.^[97]

Connecting Classrooms

In January 2012, the press in Pakistan reported that the Federal Investigations Agency was investigating a visa scam associated with the British Council's Connecting Classrooms programme.^[98]

History

Initially titled CETO news, ISSN 0574-9409, it became Educational Television International: a journal of the Centre for Educational Television Overseas, ISSN 0424-6128, in March 1967 (volume 1, issue 1).^[107] The journal changed its name again, in March 1971, to Educational Broadcasting International: a journal of the Centre for Educational Development Overseas, ISSN 0013-1970 (volume 5, issue 1).^[108] Its final name change was to Media in Education and Development, ISSN 0262-0251, in December 1981 (volume 14 issue 4).^[109] The final issue went to print in 1989 (volume 22).^[110]

British Council Partnership

• English UK^[111]

List of British Council-Approved Centres

• British Study Centres

Locations

The British Council is organised into seven regions.