Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №5/2007

YOUTH ENGLISH SECTION

British Council Stops Running English Courses

The council, which has been at the heart of a diplomatic spat between Russia and Britain in recent years, was informed by the Foreign Ministry that it would need an Education and Science Ministry license to continue offering classes.

The worldwide known international organization “The British Council” declared the closure of its courses of English in Russia. This decision was taken so unexpectedly that many teachers were suddenly left without work and thousands of students had nothing else to do but to search for new courses.

What were the reasons of this decampment? Who will prepare students for the Cambridge exams now? In this article I’ll disclose these and some other details of this news.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations. It has a network of 15 information centers all over Russia. These centers offer a wide range of educational opportunities, such as: free access to internet and multi-media resources on the UK, advice on British education and training opportunities, and materials for teaching and learning English. Also “The BC” organizes various art exhibitions were people get to know the best music, theatre, dance, design, visual arts, film and literature from the UK.

But one of the most popular services of “The BC” has always been the course of English as a foreign language. Thousands of students, who wanted to know English well, preferred “The BC” as an organization, famous for its high quality of education and for its native speaking teachers. The centre offered English courses for adults and young learners at any level of English; preparation courses for Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) exams including IELTS (International English Language Testing System); certificates on completion of all courses.

Unfortunately for all students of “The BC”, at the beginning of the year 2007 the administration of this organization decided to leave the Russian market of education. According to the chief of the Moscow PR department of British Council, Natalia Minchenko, the idea of ending their educational work appeared already in April 2006, when the government passed a law restricting NGO’s activity in Russia. This law obliged all non-governmental organizations to get a license to allow them to continue their work. As “The BC” has always been a cultural centre of the Embassy of the UK and offered the courses for fees (which allowed them to meet their own expenses), the organization is regarded as non-governmental. After the appearance of the “license problem” the organization decided to leave the market.

Some political analysts relate this occasion to some other political tensions, which appeared between Russia and The UK at the end of the year ’06. But for English language learners in Russia the fact remains a fact – the courses are closed and they have nothing else to do but to search for others that will prepare them for Cambridge exams, like First Certificate and Cambridge Advanced English exam. The only thing that “The BC” can do for all these people now is to conduct the exams.

By Tatiana Komarova