The future of the British Council, a key promoter of international education globally, could be in jeopardy due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis on its operations and ability to raise revenue unless the government provides emergency funding, according to the Public and Commercial Services Union.
The union launched a campaign to save the body last month in order to safeguard jobs, put on hold redundancies and secure additional funding.
The British Council, the union warns, has been “devastated by a huge drop in income following the closure of most of its overseas schools due to the coronavirus pandemic” and furloughed a quarter of employees and announced it intended to let go 15% of non-permanent or fixed-term employees.
The British Council’s mission includes encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and other educational cooperation and advancing education. It is a key promoter of international higher education globally via its annual Going Global conference and policy and research reports and is a key provider of English language teaching, which is an important contributor to mobility in higher education and supports working abroad.
Founded in 1934, the non-departmental public body assists in the teaching of English in more than 50 countries and employs 1,175 staff, 938 of whom are employed within the UK.
In the past year more than four million people have taken an English exam with the council generating £125 million (US$152 million) for UK exam bodies and in the last financial year the income of the council exceeded £1.25 billion (US$1.52 billion).
However, the necessary measures taken in relation to COVID-19 have resulted in the closure of 203 out of 221 schools run by the British Council as well as the closure of 26 out of 41 test centers. ♦
