BRITISH COUNCIL LAUNCHES $500,000 FUND TO DEVELOP NEW UK-US HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS
Tonight the British Council will launch the UK-US New Partnership Fund, a $500,000 program to develop new strategic links between higher education institutions. The fund, made available through the Prime Minister’s Initiative 2, directly supports recommendations from research also released today with support from the Institute of International Education (IIE), UK-US Higher Education Partnerships: Realising the Potential.
The report argues that, despite strong higher education relationships between the two countries, the international education market is changing and the UK needs to re-invest in strategic higher education partnerships with the US in order to realize the full potential of UK-US cooperation.
The UK-US New Partnership Fund, managed by the British Council, will support up to 20 projects up to £20,000 per project in seed money to help establish collaboration between new partners, create new co-operations between existing partners or pilot UK-US collaborations with third countries, such as China and India.
Priority will be given to partnerships in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medical fields, although proposals demonstrating innovative and interdisciplinary approaches will also be welcomed. The fund, made available through the Prime Minister’s Initiative 2, will also provide travel grants to UK higher education staff exploring opportunities at US institutions.
To read the report, of if you are a US institution interested in expressing interest in partnering with the UK, please visit www.britishcouncil.org/usa-education-partnerships.
BRITISH COUNCIL AND NATO EXPLORE THE ROLE OF CULTURAL RELATIONS IN CONFLICT PREVENTION
Yesterday the British Council and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored a conference in Brussels, Belgium on “Conflict Prevention and Resolution – the Role for Cultural Relations.”
Bringing the cultural and military sectors together with people who have lived through recent conflicts, the conference examined how soft and hard power can complement each other. The conference takes place at a time when NATO is rewriting its Strategic Concept and rethinking its approach to conflict resolution.
Conference speakers included: Martin Howard, Assistant NATO Secretary General (Operations); Martin Davidson, British Council CEO; Marietje Schaake, Member of the European Parliament and TN2020; Brigadier Hamza Visca, Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces; Afifa Azim, Executive Director for the Afghan Women's Network; and Professor John Sugden, Director Football4Peace.
The conference was first envisioned by members of Transatlantic Network 2020 (TN2020), and sixteen TN2020 members were in attendance, including three Americans: Kristopher Harrison, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State’s Counsellor Eliot Cohen; Azita Ranjbar, who works on criminal law and transitional justice issues in Afghanistan for the U.S. Institute of Peace; and Shaun Lent, an arts manager at the Center for Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College Chicago. In addition, TN2020 members Sarah-Jane King and Regina O'Connor will be writing an article about the conference for E!Sharp, a European magazine.
Learn more about the strategic role of cultural relations.
A LOOK AHEAD: THE EDINBURGH SHOWCASE ARRIVES IN DC
This fall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will present On the Fringe: Eye on Edinburgh, a three-week festival of innovative and experimental plays from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, first seen at the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase.
Every two years more than 200 arts professionals from more than 50 countries experience an intensive, curated week of contemporary UK theater during the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase, held in Scotland during the largest arts festival in the world.
Read the Washington Post's story about On the Fringe: Eye on Edinburgh.
TN2020 HOSTS EVENTS IN LISBON AND ROME
Last month, the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020 (TN2020) hosted a workshop on migration and integration in Lisbon and two debates and networking events in Rome.
Working in partnership with the Gulbenkian Foundation and the European Commission in Lisbon, TN2020 and the Network Effect hosted a workshop entitled “A Worldview on Europe: Does Migration Shape our Perceptions of Europe?” The workshop featured a series of presentations, discussions and a site visit, examining issues surrounding migration and integration in Europe and North America. A report and a series of recommendations on the topic are currently being drafted by the participants, which will then be presented to the European Commission.
In Rome, the first TN2020 debate explored the transatlantic relationship between Europe and North America in the context of the new administration in the US and the recent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in Europe. The second debate, “Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Technologies for a Sustainable Future,” considered how Europe and North America might work together to tackle issues which are increasingly global in nature, but which need local implementation. The debates were presented in partnership with the British, American and Canadian Embassies in Rome.
TN2020 is a project that brings together a diverse group of young influencers (roughly 25-35 years of age) from business, civil society, the arts, science and media to revitalize transatlantic and global links for the future.
65 BRITISH TEACHERS VISIT US PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Last month, 65 British teachers visited public schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland; Baltimore, Montgomery County; Fairfax County, Virginia; Houston, Texas; and San Francisco, California as a part of the British Council’s Teachers International Professional Development (TIPD). The British groups came from school districts in Hertfordshire, Halton, Liverpool, Norfolk, Torbay, Birmingham and Stockton on Tee.
TIPD enables teachers from England to experience one week at schools in another country, exploring best practices in a chosen theme relevant to their schools. Last month’s groups explored the following subjects: teaching and learning strategies, schools in challenging circumstances – building relationships between schools and diverse communities, multi-agency working, raising achievement, raising standards in inner city schools, and gifted and talented education.
The leader of the group visiting Houston wrote to his Texan hosts: “I know all of our delegates were greatly inspired by the practice we saw during our visits to your schools and will already be back at work (despite the jet lag!) with a new enthusiasm and sense of purpose.”
LONG HORIZONS: EXPLORING ART AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The British Council recently commissioned a collection of personal reflections about art, artists and climate change entitled Long Horizons. Curated by Julie’s Bicycle, the collection features contributions from UK artists and scientists Antony Gormley, Jay Griffiths, Professor Tim Jackson, Professor Diana Liverman and KT Tunstall.
Long Horizons is a part of a number of British Council programs around the world aimed at harnessing the inspirational qualities of the arts to demystify and energize the debate about climate change, moving public engagement with the issue from intellectual understanding to emotional engagement, and then on to action.
In the US, the British Council has been involved in a number of "Greening the Arts" initiatives including working with groundbreaking UK organization TippingPoint on the first US TippingPoint gathering of artists and scientists in New York, and bringing international sustainability experts to participate in professional sessions during the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and the International Society for the Performing Arts annual meetings.
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVESThe United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland)
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.