We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.
We uniquely combine the UK’s deep expertise in arts and culture, education and the English language, our global presence and relationships in over 100 countries, our unparalleled access to young people and influencers and our creative sparkle.
We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.
The British Council in Saudi Arabia
The British Council’s office in Saudi Arabia was established in 1975 in Riyadh, Jeddah and Khobar. We work in four key areas: English, education, arts and society, with a focus on young people.
Our work in English supports the local Saudi community through English language courses, where we currently teach over 13,000 students a year. We have also set a standard of training teachers through our CELTA courses and English Language Teaching Professional Network workshops, with over 600 teachers attending annually.
We work closely with schools and universities providing examinations to over 35,000 students a year, as well as enabling 85 international schools to offer the British school curricula, and giving over 30 UK professional bodies the opportunity to offer their qualifications to young professionals in the Kingdom.
Our work in education and training is at the heart of Saudi Arabia's ambitions to develop its young people to be competitive, and to engage internationally. We support the local youth through activities such as the Springboard Women's Development Programme which has helped over 8,000 women fulfil their professional goals, as well as other activities such as Connecting Classrooms. We also support UK academics and agencies to train Saudi university staff in quality assurance strategic planning and management.
In our arts programme we have helped a new generation of male and female Saudi artists find new ways to be recognised within Saudi Arabia and internationally.