APPENDIX 22
Memorandum submitted by The British Council
A. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The British Council's directorate in China is
one of eight global priority operations. The Council's aim in
China is to enhance the UK's reputation as a valued partner. It
seeks to modernise perceptions of the UK, promote UK education,
support reform and promote the learning of English.
The Council operates in China as the Cultural
& Education Section of the British Embassy, and works closely
with other sections of the British Embassy and British business
in China, in order to play a central role in developing the new
relationship between a modern Britain and the new China. The Council
has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Its new Chongqing
office opened in July 2000.
The Council's current strategy combines physical
expansion (to meet the needs of a continent sized country) with
operational refocusing and heightened profile raising (to meet
the demands of key target audiences). A key need is to meet growing
demand, particularly from young Chinese, for information about
study opportunities in the UK and for British examinations. In
June 2000 the Shanghai office moved to new premises offering high
quality enquiry and information services. The Council will explore
similar moves in Beijing and Guangzhou, if funding permits. These
four offices will form hubs from which we shall reach a much larger
number of major cities through partnerships with local Chinese
organisations, with whom we shall work to promote UK education
opportunities, to deliver UK examinations, and to co-organise
promotional events and projects.
The total country budget for China in 2000-01
is £6,381,462, of which the grant-in-aid components from
the FCO is £3,961,000.
There is virtually unlimited demand for the
Council's programmes and services in China. Some additional funds
have been allocated to China in the last few years but a further
increase in funding would be required to respond more adequately
to the vast opportunities that China presents at the crucial stage
in its emergence as a modern nation and member of the international
community.
Resources
The 2000-01 country budget for China from the
FCO's grant-in-aid is £3,961,000 with further funding deriving
from the Council's management of programmes on behalf of other
government and multilateral agencies, and from revenue earning
activities (such as the provision of British examinations) which
brings the total gross budget to £6,381,462. The British
Council currently has 98 members of staff in China, of which 14
are UK-appointed (including staff on fixed term contracts). This
number is expected to rise to 131 staff overall (17 UK-appointed)
later in the year, following the opening of the new Chongqing
office and the expansion of certain areas of activity, notably
higher education co-operation, school links and examinations services.
C. CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
OF THE
UK
1. Overall strategy
The Council's over-riding objective in this
sector is to challenge the negative impressions of Britain in
China, which emerged from the various market research exercises
(notably the MORI research) in 1999. Britain was seen by many
Chinese as a dull, conservative country dependent upon the USA,
not as a modern, independent power. Its people were thought by
some to be xenophobic and narrow-minded. One in four Chinese polled
admitted to having an unfavourable view of Britain. The Council's
programme of activities seeks to challenge these negative assumptions
and to reverse them.
2. Cultural events
The Council's work in the arts seeks to raise
awareness of UK creativity, by highlighting examples of British
culture, often with education events running alongside. In particular,
it aims to appeal to younger audiences in areas such as contemporary
music and fashion, setting up platforms where British practitioners
and their Chinese counterparts can create or showcase work side
by side. The cultural programme sets out to establish and develop
partnerships between key players such as theatre groups and musicians
in China and UK and promotes British arts excellence through innovative
links, for example, between sculpture, drama and urban regeneration.
Recent examples have included both practical workshops in China
involving the Welsh National Opera and the David Glass Ensemble,
and also high-profile events attracting the political and business
leaders of China—eg the sell-out Royal Ballet tour in 1999
and the major Henry Moore sculpture exhibition due to arrive in
China in October 2000. In order to maximise the impact of the
Council's programme of events and to reach a significant proportion
of the key target groups, maintaining close contact with the media
is a priority. This goes far beyond simply inviting the media
to cover Council activities. By assisting the development of the
professional media in China and by building in TV, radio and press
involvement to an event at the planning stage, a high profile
for the Council and its activities in the media has been ensured.
3. Science and technology
In Science and Technology, the Council is pursuing
a twin track approach—both tracks aiming to demonstrate
British excellence and innovation in science. On one hand, the
Council ensures that senior Chinese scientists and decision makers
at the policy level are introduced to UK scientific achievements
and the systems for scientific innovation in Britain as models
to follow (eg the privatisation of research laboratories and best
practice in science park management). On the other hand, the Council
aims to develop a public perception of Britain in China as a technologically
advanced and innovative nation by showcasing examples of "New
Science" in Britain in order to illustrate British creativity.
The Council's science programme, therefore aims to build on and
to strengthen existing academic and research links, whilst developing
new areas of collaboration at the policy level. As an additional
strand to the strategy, the Council promotes initiatives in the
application of the Public Understanding of Science and demonstrates
new ways in which the scientific community can best interact with
society.
4. Scholarship programmes
Following its inception in 1989, the Chevening
Programme in China, which the Council administers for the FCO,
is now well established and recognised as the British Government's
flagship scholarship scheme offering opportunities for advanced
studies in the UK for China's future leaders and policy makers.
Each year, the Council works nationally with 350 key Chinese Ministries,
Commissions and organisations on the Chevening programme contributing
to the full range of FCO objectives in China.
The Programme enhances knowledge and understanding
of the UK's political, social and economic systems, and further
China's economic and social development, consolidating commercial
partnerships between the UK and China. It encourages a focused
promotion of UK plc to key Chinese public and private sector organisations,
reflecting Britain's increased understanding of China's social
development needs during the period of economic transition into
the new millennium. 80 per cent of organisations targeted play
a leading role in the development of government policies for China's
social development in the 21st Century.
The Chevening Programme gives the Embassy and
the Council access to the widest pool of contacts (both participating
organisations and individual candidates) to develop all our work
in China. It is a vehicle for changing perceptions of the UK,
and also for ensuring that Britain is a valued partner in reform.
A number of key individuals in China have benefited from Council
scholarships and training programmes organised by the Council,
including the Vice Minister of the State Tax Administration, Xu
Shanda and the Vice President of the Bank of China, Wang Li Li.
The Chevening Programme has benefited from the
Prime Minister's Initiative to increase the number of overseas
students choosing to study in the UK. The budget for the programme
has been increased by approximately 35 per cent and it has attracted
substantial funding from other Government Departments, including
the Lord Chancellor's Department who are sponsoring participants
in the legal reform area. The UK higher education constituency
has also responded positively by offering substantial discounts.
The largest group of Chevening scholars from China to date (135—the
largest number from any single country) will be leaving this autumn
2000 to attend 12-month Master's degree courses in Britain.
5. Alumni activities and follow-up
The British Council established an alumni association
in 1996 with the objective of maintaining the relationships and
deepening the contact between priority group members who have
been to the UK for a period of training, and UK official, commercial
and educational organisations. The overall aim is to encourage
long-term commercial and political relationships. An alumni directory
is also published annually to enable UK companies and other British
organisations to develop and to maintain contact with alumni.
All HMG-Funded trainees are included (Chevening, Technical Co-operation
Training, Sino-British Friendship Scholarship Scheme, Financial
Sector Training, Academic Links with China). In 1999, the database
was expanded to include self-funded returnees or those funded
by other bilateral or multilateral schemes.
Individuals are provided with regular tailored
information on the UK, promoting to a wide and varied audience
UK best practice in fields of social development such as education,
law, gender, management, science and technology. Alumni members
are located in each of China's 31 provinces and regions and represent
a cadre of returned scholars and visitors who value relationships
created in the UK and who wish to maintain contact. Out of the
2,100 members, 650 are former Chevening scholars with whom regular
contact is maintained throughout the year.
6. Information Services
The British Council's information policy is
to provide a high quality information service to those wishing
to study in the UK and to support its work in reform by providing
targeted information updates to key decision makers in China.
A secondary aim is to provide a limited amount of general information
on the UK to the general public.
Information is made available through the information
centres located in the Council's three regional offices (four
from July 2000) and via the British Council website. Regular high-level
and tailored information newsletters in the governance, science,
health and management fields have been provided to key contacts,
decision makers, influencers and researchers during the past few
years. The information newsletters provide in-depth information
on UK experience in the Council's priority areas. The publications
have been well received by Chinese contacts and have had impact
in their decision making process.
The new British Council China website has attracted
many visits since it was launched last year. The role of the website
is to promote Council activities and services, to raise the profile
of the Council and its activities in China and as an element of
the Council's strategy to project a positive image of Britain.
The number of website user sessions per month is currently averaging
around 5000 although through special promotions by a popular Chinese
website, the number of user sessions per month has reached 18,000.
The Alumni Database was launched recently on the website, enabling
returned scholars to register and to update their information
directly. A UK-China Science Link Survey database will be launched
soon and will offer information on all known collaborative projects
in the science and technology field.
7. Publishing promotion and information society
Publishing and the press industry is a major
vehicle for reform in China. The British Council has helped Chinese
publishers to gain knowledge and experience in book trading, publishing
management and press group management by organising exchange visits/study
programmes and by aiding the establishment of an MA Programme
in Publishing Studies in a major Chinese university. The Council
helps Chinese publishers to gain experiences in copyright trading
with Western countries by supporting a Copyright Translation Right
Scheme. The British Council also facilitates a collaborative project
on digitising the Dunhuang manuscripts between the British Library
and the National Library of China.
D. PROMOTING
THE UK AS
A LEADING
PROVIDER OF
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
1. Promoting the "Education UK"
brand and education counselling services
Education Promotion in China is a significant
component of the Council's operational activity in China. Given
the size of the country and the impossibility of meeting directly
the demand for advice and counselling for more than a small proportion
of those interested in studying in UK, the Council focuses its
efforts on generic promotion of British education, developing
a network of agencies around the country to advise students and
parents, and providing marketing advice and support to UK educational
exporters.
A full Education Counselling Service operation
was launched in April 1998, with teams operating in Beijing, Guangzhou
and Shanghai. A fourth operational centre will open in August
in Chongqing. All four centres will deliver the agreed education
promotion strategy in China, based around the following five core
activities:
(i) Generic Promotion of British Education
now underpinned by the new global Education UK brand with development
of promotional and outreach activity including the organisation
of eight British education exhibitions in the financial year 1999-2000,
which attracted over 100,000 visitors.
(ii) Student information and counselling
services. The number of education enquiries received by British
Council offices has doubled in the last year to nearly 20,000.
This in the context of student visa issues increasing from 2,400
in 1997 to over 8,000 in 1999. The expectation is that the number
of Chinese students going to the UK could reach 20,000 by 2002
based on current market conditions.
(iii) Market Development Services: Support
is given to UK education institutions' marketing efforts in China,
through a range of market development and information services.
In addition, there have been market survey publications and regular
information supply to the GETIS website for UK education exporters.
(iv) Geographical and Network Expansion through
Marketing Partnerships: In order to widen geographical penetration
beyond the cities where the Council has offices, the Council engages
in a programme of marketing partnerships with Chinese organisations
in other cities.
(v) Professional Development of the Council's
staff and the staff of partner organisations is also a priority.
The focus has been initially upon internal staff capacity with
the aim over the next few years to develop a network of trained
and informed education agents through the organisation of in-country
workshops for agents and also inward missions to the UK.
2. Examinations
The British Council administers a range of British
examinations in a total of 13 test centres in China. This will
increase in 2000 with the opening of the new Chongqing office.
In 1999-2000, a total of 17,090 examinations were delivered—an
increase of 165 per cent over the 1998-99 total of 6,437. The
medium term target is to deliver 35,000 examinations per year
by 2002.
Providing examinations services helps to measure
competence and to develop quality standards in a range of educational
and professional fields. It creates opportunities for individual
development. It also assists with the marketing of British education
by providing access for Chinese students to enter education and
training courses in the UK. This helps to develop key partnerships
in China—the Council works with 13 Chinese university test
centres to improve their customer care standards, marketing and
promotional skills and test security procedures. British examinations
which are of high quality and technologically advanced also contribute
to the promotion of a positive and modern view of the UK. As a
recent development, the computer-based Business English test BULATS,
developed for the corporate sector, is being promoted by the Council
to financial institutions in China.
The Council's examinations services also contribute
to reform of education and training in China. In 1999-2000, 810
examinations were delivered on behalf of British educational institutions
(most of which are delivering joint-venture courses in China)
and 1,281 on behalf of UK professional bodies providing internationally
recognised qualifications in China. The largest volume examinations
category is the IELTS test, which measures all four language skills
and which is becoming a driver for change in the teaching of English
in China. The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate's
Certificate of Advanced English will be introduced in 2000 as
the level of English in China rises.
E. PROMOTING
THE UK AS
A COMMITTED
PARTNER IN
REFORM AND
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
1. Education and training
The Council in China has a wide range of relationships
in the field of educational reform.
In higher education, through a programme
involving the Higher Education Funding Council for England the
Ministry of Education, the Council is involved in collaborative
activity in several fields:- quality assurance and strategic planning
in higher education; the sharing of web based resources; exploring
issues surrounding the commercialisation of research; and an ongoing
programme of exchange visits between UK Vice Chancellors and Chinese
university presidents. The importance of this work to the UK constituency
is demonstrated by the fact that HEFCE have agreed to contribute
to the cost of a post to manage the activity in this area.
In vocational education, the Council
has initiated a pilot project on the use of NVQ-style qualification
in China and has fostered collaboration between the British examining
body, Edexcel, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Additionally, work has begun this year, on the development of
key skills for employment, and open learning innovation through
collaboration between the Central Radio and Television University
and the University for Industry. The Council has also fostered
collaboration between Edexcel and the Ministry of Labour and Social
Security to introduce a new range of vocational qualifications
to China.
In basic education, the Council has been
involved in an innovative distance teaching/teach training project
in environmental education, and has recently initiated new projects,
arising from a very successful "lifelong learning week"
in October 1999 in pre-school teacher development, disability
and learning., ICT in schools and distance tutor training. In
addition, the Council is an active member of the UN Basic education
task force for China.
China Studies grants: The Council has
initiated a fund for small grants to support British students
in China in order to strengthen the links between China and the
UK and the study of Chinese society in UK and vice versa. The
first set of grants was agreed in May 2000.
Academic links: The Council manages 38
links between UK and Chinese institutions under funding from DFID.
2. Law, governance and civil society
The British Council's Governance activities
in China cover a range of areas including legal reform, human
rights, gender and juveniles development, and the development
of civil society through professionalisation. The Council in China
has secured significant support for its work from the FCO Human
Rights Project Fund, and works closely with other sections of
the embassy on these and other areas of governance work.
The British Council works closely with Chinese
decision makers, opinion formers and selected implementing agencies,
including the Chinese Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public
Security, the National People's Congress and Women's and Children's
Organisations. It works to assist decision-makers, opinion formers
and professionals in China and to strengthen legal, human rights
and civil society institutions particularly within the context
of the continuing devolution of responsibility from central government.
Key partner institutions include China University of Political
Science and Law, Beijing University and People's University.
The Council supports its activities by close
links with the media, including newspapers, television stations
and national publishing and media authorities, and with regular
information provision, including distribution of an information
pack with over 1,000 subscribers.
The British Council manages bilateral and multilateral
funds in support of developing the rule of law in China. For over
10 years, the Council has managed the DFID-funded Practical Training
Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers, which has built up a cadre of
lawyers with direct experience of the UK legal and judicial system
and enhanced skills as legal practitioners.
The Council is managing the largest programme
of development assistance in the legal reform area in China on
behalf of the European Commission—the EU Legal & Judicial
Co-operation programme. This new initiative will greatly strengthen
the contribution of European, including UK, resources to China's
development and reform of the legal and judicial system.
3. Economic reform
In this area, the British Council manages the
high profile China Financial Sector Training Scheme on behalf
of DFID: it aims to contribute to organisational change and development
in the Chinese finance industry through work attachments in the
UK for 225 key staff over three years. The programme has the additional
benefit to the UK of building links for the UK finance sector
with key partner organisations in China.
The British Council works directly in the field
of economic reform supporting the development of qualifications
for the Chinese securities industry based on British materials
and experience.
F. PROMOTING
WIDER AND
MORE EFFECTIVE
LEARNING OF
THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Since the early 1980s, the Council has managed
on behalf of the DFID a major and highly influential series of
projects to develop English language teaching in China. This programme
is now coming to an end. The Council continues to manage the remaining
DFID funded ELT projects, and is also developing its own new,
strategic approach to ELT in China, supported by high level advisory
committee in both countries. The new strategy has four thrusts:
showcasing UK excellence in ELT, building strategic partnerships
with partners in UK and China, promoting innovation in ELT in
China, and developing networks of professionals in ELT in Britain
and China. This new strategy seeks to combine strong promotion
of the UK ELT resource with the development of long-term partnership
between China and UK. The Council is seeking to establish in partnership
with a Chinese organisation an English language innovation and
teaching centre in Beijing, where all elements of the strategy
can be demonstrated in practice to education professionals and
senior leaders, and given a high public profile.
G. INVOLVING
YOUNG PEOPLE
Targeting programmes at young people is a theme
which runs through much of the Council's overall strategy in China.
Scholarship programmes, the promotion of educational opportunities
in Britain to the successor generation in China, and most cultural
and scientific activities are designed to appeal to, and to involve,
young people.
In 1999-2000, 2,730 young Chinese were given
the opportunity to work directly, on and off stage, with British
artistes. Notable examples included theatre workshops run by the
David Glass Ensemble in Yunnan with disadvantaged secondary school
children and university social work students; and musical workshops
in Beijing run by The Welsh National Opera and the young, award-winning
British jazz band, J-Life. This year, a major event will be the
"Football Nation" multi-media, exhibition on British
football culture and complementary activities including visits
to China by two school football teams to play matches with Chinese
counterparts.
The Council will establish a new programme in
2000-01 to encourage the growth of school links between the UK
and China, including student and teacher exchanges. Three new
posts (one UK-appointed) to manage this work in Shanghai and Beijing
will be funded by the DfEE.
H. USING THE
MEDIA
The Council understands that effective use of
the media in China is essential in order to reach a significant
proportion of the population of 1.3 billion. In addition to using
the media to report Council events, the Council has achieved success
in involving the media directly in its activities. Recent examples
have included sending TV crews to accompany Chinese visitors to
the UK, dubbing British TV shows for broadcast in China and conducting
live radio broadcasts from major events. It is estimated that
400 million people saw TV programmes on the Council's work in
China in 1999-2000. Television programmes on British policing
methods, British architecture, the Council-sponsored visit of
prize-winning Chinese schoolchildren to UK to attend Space School
and to view the solar eclipse and a new radio programme, Radio
Guangdong's "Women's Hour", providing advice on legal
issues of particular relevance to women, were the direct result
of Council initiatives last year.
1. OPPORTUNITIES
FOR THE
FUTURE
China, the most populous country in the world,
at a crucial and sensitive stage in its economic, political and
social development, offers extensive opportunities for useful
expansion of the Council's work.
Most obvious is the need to extend the range
and influence of Council events and services beyond the largest
and most developed cities of Eastern China. The opening of the
Chongqing office in July 2000 is the first stage in this process.
Further expansion of the Council's network, and adequate re-investment
in the existing network to cope with growing demand from the Chinese
public (for example to provide access facilities in Beijing and
Guangzhou on a par with those which will be offered by the new
Shanghai office), will require resources over and above those
currently available to the Council in China. The Council will
develop regional outreach for its education promotion and information
through partnerships with Chinese organisations, thereby making
the best of limited funds in a vast country; but the scope of
these activities could usefully be increased with additional funds.
In education reform, the promotion of good governance
and human rights, the Council has built the trust of key Chinese
partners over many years, and positioned itself in effective partnerships
with leading UK organisations. It will continue to deliver innovative,
high-profile projects in these areas, limited only by the relatively
small financial resources available at present.
The ending after two decades of the major DFID
ELT programme in China, which has positioned the UK as major player
in this field, creates both a gap, and an opportunity to turn
the UK's reputation to advantage in a growing ELT market, and
to support the further development of effective learning in English
in China. Once again, the Council is adopting an innovative approach
but with very limited funds in comparison to those devoted in
the past to the DFID's ELT programme in China.
The growing demand for foreign culture in China,
the increasing sophistication of audiences, and the interest in
UK cultural organisations in China, will enable the Council to
build its programmes in the arts, drawing support from UK and
Chinese sponsors, and winning ever greater profile for the UK
through the events themselves and through media coverage. Enhanced
pump-priming funds for these programmes and the resources to employ
additional professional staff would enable the Council to exploit
these opportunities to even greater effect.
In conclusion, the British Council has now developed
its China operation into one of its strongest operations worldwide,
with much of this expansion achieved over the last three years.
Even so, the opportunities and demands the Council faces in China
can by no means be met in full with current resources.
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