8. Memorandum submitted by
the British Council
The British Council is the UK's organisation
for international cultural relation and educational opportunities.
We are an integral part of the UK's public diplomacy effort overseas
and our work supports and complements the diplomatic, developmental
and commercial work carried out by other UK organisations and
agencies. We have a network of 217 offices in 110 countries.
Through the management of the Prime Minister's Initiative
on recruitment of fee-paying students from overseas and the Education
UK partnership we promote the UK as a study destination for international
students. We provide information for prospective students planning
to come to the UK including information on appropriate visa procedures.
This is worth over £6 billion to the UK economy. We work
with partners such as the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth
office, Department for Education and Skills, UKvisas, UKTI, UKOSA,
Universities UK, Association of Colleges, English UK, Visit Britain,
National Union of Students, the Standing Conference of Principals
and a number of other representative bodies.
The DfES register, introduced in January 2005, has
gone some way to addressing the abuse of the immigration control
system for students and this regulatory initiative for the English
language sector, particularly, is welcomed by the British Council.
There remain concerns, however, that the register is not sufficient
on its own and that compulsory accreditation of providers through
a single national accreditation scheme is desirable and required.
All providers accredited under the English in Britain
Accreditation Scheme are automatically entered on the DfES register
under the category "BritishCouncil EiBAS" and the British
Council ensures that the list for this category is accurately
maintained. The British Council manages the Scheme, which will
be know as Accreditation UK from 1 April 2006, in partnership
with English UK the UK's English language teaching sector's national,
professional association. The Scheme is voluntary at present and
with 397 accredited providers, holds substantial market share
of this sector in the UK. It is the world's most established,
largest scheme of its kind and the high quality standards of the
Scheme ensure that the UK is well placed in the global language
travel and education marketplace to maintain the international
reputation of the UK's provision of English language teaching.
Accreditation under this Scheme ensures both the
authenticity of English language providers required by immigration
control and the quality assurance required by students.
Providers who come forward for accreditation under
the Scheme must meet eligibility criteria and are rigorously and
fully inspected every four years, with unannounced interim visits
in between full inspections. They are inspected against a comprehensive
set of criteria covering Management, Resources and environment,
Teaching and learning and Welfare and student services. More information
and details of the Scheme, including eligibility, is available
on the dedicated accreditation site, www.britishcouncil.org/accreditation
. Information about the inspection criteria is also available
in the annual Scheme handbook which is available on the website
at www.britishcouncil.org/accreditation-handbook
The criteria in the "Administration of Students"
section clearly demonstrate how the Scheme works with UK English
language providers to ensure immigration control systems for students
are in place and to minimise the risk of abuse. Providers must
give evidence of compliance with the criteria and do so through
provision of documents and records to the inspection team. These
include registers, attendance records and records of follow up
action, policy documents of student absences, enrolment documentation,
staff handbooks, records of student contact details and publicity
materials.
Fiona Pape
Manager English Language Quality Services
28 February 2006
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