In 2008, we recognised that our services were not fully meeting the needs of our further education college members. In response, we created a new strategy to help us offer a better service to the sector.
You can find out more below about how we are working to achieve this. You can also find out about other support from the British Council to help you with international recruitment, partnership building and skills development, plus we've provided links to external organisations providing support and some useful documents.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas, please contact us.
Our further education college strategy
The Education UK Partnership's further education college strategy was developed in 2009 working closely with our college advisory panel. The strategy aims to
Promoting the UK college sector to international students
One of the key recommendations for the strategy was to help international students and agents better understand the UK college sector and show them the huge benefits it has to offer them. For this, we first needed to capture the real selling points of the UK college sector.
Working with marketing consultancy Renaissance and UK colleges, we have created a set of propositions which - we hope you will agree - describe clearly and persuasively what the UK college sector has to offer to international students.
The propositions were created following research and analysis of
British Council staff around the world and UK colleges will be able to draw upon these messages in their PR and marketing campaigns to promote the sector to students, parents and agents.
You can Download PDF Document see the propositions here (164KB). We would be really grateful for your feedback, please contact us.
College sector ambassador scheme
Another key aim of our strategy is to help British Council staff overseas understand the different types of UK college courses and institutions on offer, so that they can better market the sector and advise students on their choices.
Our college sector ambassador's scheme involves college members of the Education UK Partnership who are travelling overseas visiting British Council staff to give them a presentation about the UK college sector.
You can Download PDF Document see the presentation here (262KB). If you would like to be an ambassador on one of your trips, please contact the Education UK Partnership team.
College champions
College champions are British Council staff in a number of Partnership country offices. Their role is to be the primary source of information and contact for the sector in their country, and to raise the profile of UK colleges.
Champions appointed so far are as follows. Please do not hesitate to contact them:
College advisory panel
The advisory panel is made up of volunteers from 19 member colleges:
The panel’s role is to act as a sounding board for developments the Education UK Partnership is making on behalf of the college sector. The panel meets on a termly basis. The minutes from the following meetings are available:
Download PDF Document 10 March 2009 (149KB) [Education UK Partnership password required]
Download PDF Document 10 September 2009 (128KB) [Education UK Partnership password required]
Download PDF Document 10 March 2010 (24KB) [Education UK Partnership password required]
Download PDF Document 13 October 2010 (39KB) [Education UK Partnership password required]
If you are interested in joining or contacting the panel, please contact Chris Brooks.
College newsletter
This quarterly newsletter aims to keep you up-to-date with our college strategy and developments. It also highlights other international marketing, funding and networking opportunities for colleges. Subscribe to the Partnership FE newsletter or view past editions of the newsletter.
British Council support for UK further education colleges
In addition to the Education UK Partnership, the British Council manages a range of other programmes which support UK colleges in international recruitment, skills development and partnership building. Here are some you may find of interest:
Marketing to international students:
and more.
Building partnerships with international institutions: funding, networking, best-practice and more:
Skills and vocational partnerships:
See the support for UK education and training providers section of the British Council website for details of other programmes available.
Other useful information
External organisations providing support
Other organisations supporting colleges’ internationalisation activities include:
If you are aware of any other stakeholder organisations that you have found particularly useful and we could share with other member colleges please contact Chris Brooks.
Useful documents
You may find the following documents useful:
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland)
Registered in Singapore as a branch (T09FC0012J) and as a charity (No 0768).
Our privacy and copyright statements.
Our commitment to freedom of information. Double-click for pop-up dictionary.
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.