British Council Accredited Schools

How is Accreditation awarded?

Accreditation is awarded on the basis of an inspection. Following the inspection, oral feedback is provided to the school by the inspectors; a written report is then made using a pro forma report template.
Why study at accredited school?

Each year over 600,000 students come to the UK to learn English. Many are attracted by Britain’s reputation for academic excellence; others are seeking to improve their English before studying at a British University; others choose UK for exciting diverse social activities and also because it is a great base for exploring the rest of Europe after their course. Whatever their reason, students are spoilt for choice by the great range of English language schools and courses available. Yet selecting a course requires a lot of care and research.
Teachers recruitment

The accredited school is responsible for making sure that recruited teachers have the qualifications that the accreditation scheme requires. The scheme cannot advise on the recruitment of individual teachers and the decision to recruit a teacher lies with the school, which needs to take the requirements of the accreditation and its own operating context into account. If there is a conflict between what the scheme requires and the schools preferred candidate, the school is advised to recruit the best person for the teaching post...

Accreditation UK

Accreditation UK (formerly the English in Britain Accreditation scheme) is a voluntary quality assurance scheme for English language teaching (ELT) providers in the UK. This scheme is open to language schools, home tuition providers, FE and HE institutions, international study centres and independent schools.

The scheme, established in 1996, works as a partnership between the British Council and English UK, the organization that represents English language providers. The aim of the scheme is to protect international students who are studying or planning to study English language in the UK through external inspection of the institutions and to ensure that the accredited providers meet the agreed quality standards.

Purpose of the scheme

Develop, establish and maintain quality standards for English language provision delivered in the UK for international students
Accredit al organizations providing English language courses in the UK which meet the scheme criteria and standards
Provide an assurance of the quality of English language providers accredited under the scheme to international students and their advisers.

Scheme Standards

Management: the management of the provision will operate to the benefit of its students in accordance with its publicity and in accordance with the declaration of legal and regulatory compliance
Resources and environment: the learning resources and environment will support and enhance the studies of students and will offer an appropriate professional environment for staff
Teaching and learning: teachers will have appropriate qualifications and will be given sufficient support to ensure that the teaching meets the needs of the students
Welfare and student services: the needs of the students for security, information and leisure activities will be met.

Benefits of schools

Commitment to maintain quality standards
Opportunities for improvement through regular inspection
Accreditation UK is approved for the purpose of sponsorship under the Tier 4 visa Points Based System
Promotion in overseas markets through the extensive network of British Council offices in over 100 countries, the inclusion in the English in the UK guide (the principal printed source of information about accredited schools by the British Council.
Inclusion in the list of accredited schools on the British Council website
Access to the accreditation zone on the British Council website
Eligibility for EnglishUK membership

Benefits to students

Students studying at accredited schools are assured of a level of service defined by the standards set by the scheme
Students can get compensation through an agreed complaints procedure if the standards are not me
Alternatives courses can be arranged at no additional cost for students affected by the sudden closure of the school.

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